Direct Identification of Label-Free Gram-Negative Bacteria with Bioreceptor-Free Concentric Interdigitated Electrodes

Abstract

This investigation demonstrates an electrochemical method for directly identifying unlabeled Gram-negative bacteria without other additives or labeling agents. After incubation, the bacterial cell surface is linked to the interdigitated electrode through electroadsorption. Next, these cells are exposed to a potential difference between the two electrodes. The design geometry of an electrode has a significant effect on the electrochemical detection of Gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, electrode design geometry is a crucial factor that needs to be considered when designing electrodes for electrochemical sensing. They provide the area for the reaction and are responsible for transferring electrons from one electrode to another. This work aims to study the available design in the commercial market to determine the most suitable electrode geometry with a high detection sensitivity that can be used to identify and quantify bacterial cells in normal saline solutions. To work on detecting bacterial cells without the biorecognition element, we have to consider the microelectrode’s design, which makes it very susceptible to bacteria size. The concentration–dilution technique measures the effect of the concentration on label-free Gram-negative bacteria in a normal saline solution without needing bio-recognized elements for a fast screening evaluation. This method’s limit of detection (LOD) cannot measure concentrations less than 102 CFU/mL and cannot distinguish between live and dead cells. Nevertheless, this approach exhibited excellent detection performance under optimal experimental conditions and took only a few hours.