Herein, we reported an efficient electrochemiluminescence
(ECL)
biosensor chip for sensitive detection of neuron-specific enolase
(NSE). First, 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic acid with good luminescence
characteristics was used as a luminophore to obtain a stable ECL signal.
Subsequently, hollow porous Co3O4/CuO concave
polyhedron nanocages (CPNCs) were designed as co-reaction promoters
to amplify the luminescence signals for highly sensitive trace detection
of NSE. In brief, the rapid cyclic conversion of Co3+/Co2+ and Cu2+/Cu+ redox pairs could continuously
catalyze the reduction of persulfate (S2O8
2–), thus providing a large number of essential active
intermediates (SO4
•–) for ECL
emission. Meanwhile, the unique structure of Co3O4/CuO CPNCs possessed a large specific surface area, which greatly
improved its catalytic efficiency. Third, NKFRGKYKC was developed
as an affinity ligand for specific antibody fixation, which improved
incubation efficiency and protected bioactivity of antibodies. Finally,
we independently designed a microchip and applied it for ECL detection
to improve the practical application ability of the sensor. The developed
biosensor exhibited good sensitivity with a wide linear range (10
fg/mL to 100 ng/mL) and a low detection limit (3.42 fg/mL), which
played an active role in the clinical application of sensing analysis.