Hedgehog-like Bi2S3 nanostructures: a novel composite soft template route to the synthesis and sensitive electrochemical immunoassay of the liver cancer biomarker.

An effective electrochemical immunosensor for detecting the liver cancer biomarker was developed based on the hedgehog-like Bi2S3 nanostructure, which was synthesized using novel CTAB-trimellitic acid as a composite soft template and thiourea as the sulfur source by a simple hydrothermal method with 20-fold sensitivity enhancement and one order of magnitude increase of linear range. The electrochemical immunosensor presented excellent performance, and could be applied to detect the cancer biomarker in clinical serum samples.