Abstract:
In the present study, a new biochemical biosensor material of conductive Silver(Ag)reinforced
polyaniline (PANI)-Benzimidazole copolymer nanocomposite was fabricated via in situ chemical
oxidative polymerization method for the detection of endotoxin. The fabricated PANI-Benz-Ag
nanocomposite was characterized by FTIR, XRD, UV–visible spectrometer, DSC, TGA, Zeta potential, SEM, TEM, and Confocal fluorescence imaging microscopy. The measured particle size,
zeta-potential, and conductivity of the PANI-Benz-Ag nanocomposite were 4.942 nm, −10.4 mV,
and 73.7 μS cm−1 respectively. The crystallite size of Ag nanoparticles was around 67 nm calculated by
XRD analysis and TGA analysis was carried out to determine weight loss and thermal stabilities of
PANI-Benz and PANI-Benz-Ag nanocomposite. The endotoxin (E. coli) bacteria detection ability of
the synthesized PANI-Benz-Ag nanocomposite-based biochemical biosensor using DMMB dye
displacement assay through the hitchhiking method by confocal fluorescence microscopy was found
to be simple and effective. Endotoxin (E. coli) can form a stable interaction with other bioactive
molecules and thus it binds readily with Ag-doped PANI-Benzimidazole nanocomposite. Further, the
DMMB dye displacement assay method is more accurate and sensitive than the other existing methods
for the detection of endotoxin.
