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Fluorescence Signal Amplification: Red Carbon Dots@SiO2-Induced Ultra-sensitive Immunoassay for Diethyl Phthalate

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Abstract

Carbon dots as new nanomaterials, have been widely used in rapid detection because of their nondestructive, real-time detection characteristics. Improving the sensitivity and selectivity of the method in complex real samples is new challenge and requirement for sensing technology. Here, we report an ultrasensitive fluorescence immunoassay (FIA) for trace diethyl phthalate (DEP) using red carbon dots@SiO2 (R-CDs@SiO2) as tags. SiO2 as a nanocarrier can effectively improve the bio-functionalization and utilization rate of carbon dots. Moreover, several R-CDs embedded in SiO2 nanospheres can magnify the fluorescence signal and improve sensitivity. R-CDs@SiO2 conjugate anti-DEP antibody (Ab) as fluorescent immunosensor, which can specifically recognize DEP. Under optimization conditions, the detection limit (LOD) of this FIA was calculated as 0.0011 ng/mL. In addition, the recoveries of this established FIA ranged from 96.8 to 108.5%, showing satisfactory accuracy. Compared with GC-MS/MS (LOD µg/mL), the sensitivity of the FIA was significantly improved. As a result, the FIA developed using R-CDs@SiO2 as tags has a high potential for determining trace DEP.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21175004), the Anhui provincial Natural Science Foundation (2108085MB68) and the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (GXXT-2020-074).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education; Anhui Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing, Laboratory of Biosensing and Bioimaging, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Normal University, 241002, Wuhu, P. R. China

    Biru Chen, Lei Li, Qianqian Yang & Mingcui Zhang

  2. Anhui Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 230000, Hefei, Anhui, P. R. China

    Bolin Liu & Yue Hu

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  1. Biru Chen
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  2. Lei Li
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  6. Mingcui Zhang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Biru Chen, Lei Li, Bolin Liu, Qianqian Yang, Yue Hu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Biru Chen. Supervision, writing-review and project administration were performed by Mingcui Zhang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mingcui Zhang.

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Chen, B., Li, L., Yang, Q. et al. Fluorescence Signal Amplification: Red Carbon Dots@SiO2-Induced Ultra-sensitive Immunoassay for Diethyl Phthalate. J Fluoresc 33, 487–495 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-022-03100-3

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