High-Yield Electrochemical DNA Synthesis Method Based on Hybrid Support of Gold Nanoparticles and Functional Polymers

Electrochemical DNA synthesis is of great significance for DNA data storage and high-sensitivity sensors, particularly due to the advantages of in situ sequencing and biosensing. This paper presents a method for fabricating hybrid support on gold electrodes to enhance DNA synthesis yield, which is the key issue for on-chip synthesis. Au nanoparticles (NPs) with high density are electrodeposited onto the electrode surface by promoting convection of the electrolyte solution, allowing the electrode to have a larger electroactive surface area (ECSA) and higher catalytic activity, thereby providing more effective sites for electrochemical DNA synthesis. Moreover, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) is attached to the surface of Au NPs to increase the linker chain length, reduce steric hindrance and enhance synthesis yield. The yield of electrochemically synthesized DNA increases by approximately 13.1-fold after optimizing the electrodeposition parameters of Au NPs and modification conditions of functional polymers, while the electro-deposition time is reduced to approximately one-fourth of its original duration.