Au NPs driven electrochemiluminescence aptasensors for sensitive detection of fumonisin B1

Abstract

In this study, a simple gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) driven electrochemiluminescence (ECL) aptasensor was fabricated for the sensitive detection of fumonisin B1 (FB1), taking advantages of the weak background noise and good ECL efficiency of the ionic iridium (Ir) complex, the high affinity and specificity of aptamers for targets, and the large specific surface and excellent conductivity of Au NPs. Different amounts of Ir complex were loaded on the surface of Au NPs through mercaptoethylamine. The Au NP–Ir complex served as a nanoprobe and was applied in the development of an ECL-aptasensor, and a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.27 ng mL⁻¹ was achieved for FB1. The proposed method not only has high sensitivity, but also showed good accuracy and stability. The principle proposed in this paper could be widely applicable in the development of nanomaterial-driven ECL-aptasensors for other mycotoxin detection.