Carbon Nanotube Electrodes for Electrochemical Detection of Dopamine

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are suited for neurochemistry because of their biological inertness, ability to withstand biofouling, and superior electron transport kinetics. Dopamine, the canonical monoaminergic neuromodulator, contributes to reward, cognition and attention, however, its detection in real-time is challenging due to its low basal concentration in the brain (100nM L-1). In our present work, we fabricate pyrolytic carbon electrodes and perform a CNT coating to improve the electrochemical kinetics of dopamine. Upon CNTs coating, dopamine shows a sensitivity of 9±18nA/μM for a cylindrical electrode having a mean surface diameter of 8±4μm. Increasing the scan frequency from 10-100 Hz shows that dopamine electron transfer kinetics improves; wherein dopamine is oxidized at 0.35±0.09V and reduced to -0.10±0.05V for 10 Hz. Increasing the frequency results in a shift of oxidation peak towards the anodic region, wherein dopamine oxidizes at 0.08±3V and reduces at -0.1±0.05V for 100 Hz, thus showing that dopamine redox is reversible which can be attributed to the superior electron transport kinetics of CNTs. The sensor was able to distinguish dopamine signals against other neurochemicals like serotonin and foulant 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC). The minimum chemical detection that can be performed using these nanopipettes is 50±18nM L-1, which is well below the physiological concentrations of dopamine in the brain.Graphical AbstractA: Pictorial view of background-subtracted voltammetry. The waveform used was -0.4V to 1.3 V and cycled back to -0.4V at 10 Hz. B: The voltammogram was converted as a 2-D representation, into current, voltage, and repetition to understand the dopamine oxidation. C: Background subtracted voltammetry for dopamine using 100 Hz waveform. D: The 2-D representation of current, voltage, and repetition.