Direct electrochemistry of cytochrome c at gold electrode modified with fumed silica

Direct electrochemistry of horse heart cytochrome c (cytc) has been obtained at a gold electrode constructed by self-assembling fumed silica particles (FSPs) onto a silane monolayer. A pair of well-defined and nearly symmetrical redox peaks of cytc is obtained at the FSPs film modified gold electrode. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) are used to characterize the FSPs film modified electrode, showing that the FSPs can provide a favorable microenvironment for cytc and facilitate the direct electron transfer between the cytc and the gold electrode, which may propose an approach to realize the direct electrochemistry of other proteins.