SAMs of 2-Aminoethanethiol Modified with 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine for the Electrocatalytic Oxidation of NADH on Gold Electrodes

2-Aminoethanethiol (aet) has been used to make self-assembled monolayer (SAMs) on gold electrodes, which are subsequently modified with 3,4-dihydroxy phenylalanine (dpa). Such modified electrodes having various types of Au/aet-dpa were employed in the electrocatalytic oxidation of NADH. The purpose of this study to characterize the responses of such modified electrodes in terms of the immobilization procedure, pH of the solution and applied potential. The reaction of the surface immobilized dpa with NADH was studied using the rotating disk electrode technique and a value of $2.2{\times}10^4M^{-1}s^{-1}$ was obtained for the second-order rate constant in 0.1 M Tris/$NO_3^-$buffer (pH=8.0). The hydration behavior of the films was characterized by quartz crystal microbalance. When used as a NADH sensor, the Au/aet-dpa electrode exhibited good sensitivity and an excellent correlation (r ${\geq}$ 0.99) for NADH concentration which extended to $3.8{\times}10^{-3}$ M.