A novel electronic assay based on a sol-gel transition reaction and a thin-film transistor of supramolecular hydrogels to detect alkaline phosphatase activity

Herein, we developed an extended floating-gate thin-film transistor (EFG-TFT) together with various sol-gel phases to determine alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. The EFG-TFT was fabricated with ZnO as the channel material and YO_X as the dielectric layer, which provided an extended area for sensing the analyte interacting with the designed hydrogelator. A peptide-based supramolecular hydrogel material, i.e., 2-naphthylacetic acid-L-phenylalanine-L-phenylalanine-L-O-phosphor tyrosine (named Nap-FF-Yp) was synthesized as our sensing platform to detect ALP activity and the sol-gel state. Nap-FF-Yp could be cleaved by ALP during hydrolysis, leading to π-π stacking, and finally changed to a hydrogel. Due to the difference in the potential drop between the liquid phase and gel phase of the hydrogel, the sol-gel transition reaction could be monitored by the electrical signal. The greater the extent of hydrogelation, the smaller the threshold voltage (V_th) variation, and the threshold voltage shifted to the left. Under the device's optimal conditions with oxygen plasma treatment, the limit of detection (LOD) reached 0.024 U/L. The development of this novel sol-gel state for a high-speed screening sensing platform with an excellent electrical response demonstrates the potential capabilities of future high-speed response sensors.