Ultrasensitive Electrochemiluminescence Biosensor Based on Closed Bipolar Electrode for Alkaline Phosphatase Detection in Single Liver Cancer Cell

An ultrasensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor was proposed based on a closed bipolar electrode (BPE) for the detection of alkaline phosphatase (ALP). For most of the BPE–ECL biosensors, an effective signal amplification strategy was the key to enhance the sensitivity of the system. Herein, the signal amplification strategy of the enzyme catalysis was utilized in the BPE–ECL system. Au nanoparticles (NPs) were electrodeposited on the cathode surface of the ITO electrode to improve the stability and sensitivity of the signal. Compared with the previous BPE–ECL biosensors, the sensitivity was increased by at least 3 orders of magnitude. The biosensor showed high sensitivity and specificity of ALP detection with a detection limit of as low as 3.7 aM. Besides, it was further applied to the detection of ALP in different types of cells and successfully realized ALP detection in single Hep G2 cell, which had a huge application prospect in single biomolecule detection or single cell analysis.