Oriented gold nanoparticle aggregation for colorimetric sensors with surprisingly high analytical figures of merit.
The common drawbacks of current colorimetric sensors using gold nanoparticle aggregation is its relatively low sensitivity and narrow dynamic range, which restrict their application in real sample analysis when competing with other analytical techniques such as fluorescence and chemiluminescence. In this article, we demonstrate a novel strategy to construct colorimetric sensors based on gold nanoparticle aggregation. Unlike the conventional colorimetric sensors which cause the formation of large nanoparticle aggregates, in our strategy, dimers are selectively formed upon target binding, which results in significantly improved long-term stability and a more than 2 orders of magnitude wider dynamic range of detection than that of the conventional colorimetric sensors. In addition, a strategy to minimize the interparticle gap through the formation of a Y-shaped DNA duplex enables to increase the limit of detection by 10,000 times. The analytical figures of merit of the proposed sensor are comparable to those of the fluorescence-based sensors.
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, Department of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China.
Longhua
L
Guo
Yang
Y
Xu
Abdul Rahim
AR
Ferhan
Guonan
G
Chen
Dong-Hwan
DH
Kim
D001483:Base Sequence; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003124:Colorimetry; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000302:isolation & purification
D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D006046:Gold