A novel electrochemiluminescent sensor based on AgMOF@N-CD composites for sensitive detection of trilobatin

Abstract

In this study, a novel electrochemiluminescent (ECL) sensor for highly sensitive detection of trilobatin (Tri) was developed based on silver metal–organic frameworks (AgMOFs) and nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CDs). N-CDs exhibited high ECL intensity but poor ECL stability, while AgMOFs had a large specific surface area, high porosity, and good adsorption properties. Compositing both of them not only improved the ECL stability of N-CDs, but also enhanced the ECL strength of materials, so AgMOF@N-CD composites were used as the luminophore of the sensor. Under the optimized conditions, the ECL sensor showed a linear range of 1.0 × 10⁻⁷ M to 1.0 × 10⁻³ M for the detection of Tri, and the detection limit was as low as 5.99 × 10⁻⁸ M (S/N = 3). In addition, the sensor had excellent reproducibility, stability, and anti-interference ability. It could be utilized for the detection of Tri in real samples with recoveries of 95.78–102.26%, indicating that the constructed ECL sensor for detecting Tri possessed better application prospects.