Development of a molecular imprinting thick film electrochemical sensor for cholesterol detection

A Thick-film printing prototype sensor using molecular imprinting technique for cholesterol concentration detection has been developed. The ferro-ferric cyanide coupled redox reaction was used to quantify the cholesterol presented in the test medium. Cyclic voltammetric mode of operation was employed in this study, and a modified gold working electrode, a platinum counter electrode and a Ag/AgCl reference electrode were used in this three-electrode configuration. The alkanethiol was used to form the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on the gold electrode surface. This SAM was then using the cholesterol as the template forming the molecular imprinting layer. The surface area of the working electrode affected the detectable range of the cholesterol. The solubility of cholesterol in ethanol-water mixture was also investigated. The sensor could detect cholesterol concentration between 66 nanomolar and 700 nanomolar and a 1muL of sample volume to detect cholesterol has been suggested.