An Amperometric Biosensor Based on Alanine Dehydrogenase for the Determination of Low Level of Ammonium Ion in Water.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Sensors Volume 2011, Article ID 980709, 10 pages doi:10.1155/2011/980709 Research Article An Amperometric Biosensor Based on Alanine Dehydrogenase for the Determination of Low Level of Ammonium Ion in Water Tan Ling Ling,1 Musa Ahmad,2 and Lee Yook Heng1 1 School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, 43600 Bangi, Malaysia 2 Chancellor Offi ce, Islamic Science University of Malaysia, Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, 71800 Nilai, Malaysia Correspondence should be addressed to Lee Yook Heng, leeyookheng@yahoo.co.uk Received 4 May 2011; Accepted 30 June 2011 Academic Editor: Michele Penza Copyright © 2011 Tan Ling Ling et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. An amperometric electrochemical biosensor has been developed for ammonium (NH4 + ) ion detection by immobilising alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) enzyme in a photocurable methacrylic membrane made up of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) on a screen-printed carbon paste electrode (SPE). The current detected was based on the electrocatalytic oxidation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced (NADH) that is proportional to the consumption of NH4 + ion whilst enzymatic amination of AlaDH and pyruvate is taking place. The biosensor was operated amperometrically at a potential of +0.6 V and optimum pH 7. The NH4 + biosensor demonstrated linear response to NH4 + ion concentration in the range of 0.03–1.02 mg/L with a limit of detection (LOD) of 8.52 μg/L. The proposed method ha