Development of novel paper based electrochemical immunosensor with self-made gold nanoparticle ink and quinone derivate for highly sensitive carcinoembryonic antigen

[Display omitted] •High sensitive immunosensor was developed to detect CEA using paper based screen-printed gold electrode.•Quinone based mercapto-amine functionalization were used.•Differential pulse voltammetry was used to analyze the CEA detection levels.•Reproducibility and specificity of immunosensor were examined using various proteins. In this study, a low cost and robust paper based electrochemical immunosensor was developed using self-made gold nanoparticle electrode for rapid and selective detection of Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The working and counter electrode were printed using gold nanoparticle ink while the reference electrode was made using commerical silver ink. A simple mercapto-amine functionalised receptor (R1) based on moiety Quinone compound was formed on the paper based screen-printed gold (Au) electrode (P-SPGE) for highly selective sensing of CEA. A self-assembled monolayer principle (SAM) was exploited to fabricate the sensitive and selective immunosensor electrodes. In electrode fabrication, SAM layer was accomplished using covalent linkage of thiol in the R1 compound on the P-SPGE surface. Immobilised amine served as a layer for further binding of biological components. CEA levels were examined quantitatively using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and limit of detection (LoD) was calculated as 0.33ngmL−1. The performance of P-SPGE was compared with the commercial screen-printed Au electrode. A novel P-SPGE functionalised with R1 exhibited the tremendous performance for CEA detection in a linear concentration range of 1.0ngmL−1–100.0ngmL−1. The performance of this electrochemical immunosensor were carried out using different proteins.