title: Optical reading of contaminants in aqueous media based on gold nanoparticles.
abstract: With increasing trends of global population growth, urbanization, pollution over-exploitation, and climate change, the safe water supply has become a global issue and is threatening our society in terms of sustainable development. Therefore, there is a growing need for a water-monitoring platform with the capability of rapidness, specificity, low-cost, and robustness. This review summarizes the recent developments in the design and application of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) based optical assays to detect contaminants in aqueous media with a high performance. First, a brief discussion on the correlation between the optical reading strategy and the optical properties of AuNPs is presented. Then, we summarize the principle behind AuNP-based optical assays to detect different contaminants, such as toxic metal ion, anion, and pesticides, according to different optical reading strategies: colorimetry, scattering, and fluorescence. Finally, the comparison of these assays and the outlook of AuNP-based optical detection are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore; State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, 2 Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, China.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Bowen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D055096:Optical Devices; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants; D006046:Gold
keywords: aqueous media; contaminants; enviromental safety; gold nanoparticles; optical reading