title: Aggregation of Individual Sensing Units for Signal Accumulation: Conversion of Liquid-Phase Colorimetric Assay into Enhanced Surface-Tethered Electrochemical Analysis.
abstract: A novel concept is proposed for converting liquid-phase colorimetric assay into enhanced surface-tethered electrochemical analysis, which is based on the analyte-induced formation of a network architecture of metal nanoparticles (MNs). In a proof-of-concept trial, thymine-functionalized silver nanoparticle (Ag-T) is designed as the sensing unit for Hg(2+) determination. Through a specific T-Hg(2+)-T coordination, the validation system based on functionalized sensing units not only can perform well in a colorimetric Hg(2+) assay, but also can be developed into a more sensitive and stable electrochemical Hg(2+) sensor. In electrochemical analysis, the simple principle of analyte-induced aggregation of MNs can be used as a dual signal amplification strategy for significantly improving the detection sensitivity. More importantly, those numerous and diverse colorimetric assays that rely on the target-induced aggregation of MNs can be augmented to satisfy the ambitious demands of sensitive analysis by converting them into electrochemical assays via this approach.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tianxiang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhaoyin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jianchun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenwen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Centre of Biomedical Functional Materials and Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D002413:Cations, Divalent / Q000032:analysis; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D060106:Lakes / Q000032:analysis; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002413:Cations, Divalent; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water; D012834:Silver; D008628:Mercury; D013941:Thymine