A novel colorimetric biosensor based on non-aggregated Au@Ag core–shell nanoparticles for methamphetamine and cocaine detection

Mao, K., Yang, Z. , Li, J., Zhou, X., Li, X. and Hu, J. (2017) A novel colorimetric biosensor based on non-aggregated Au@Ag core–shell nanoparticles for methamphetamine and cocaine detection. Talanta, 175, pp. 338-346. (doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2017.07.011)

Abstract

We report a novel colorimetric biosensor based on non-aggregation Au@Ag core-shell nanoparticles to detect methamphetamine and cocaine. The biosensor consisted of a reporter probe (RP) that is a specific single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) sequence coated on Au@Ag nanoparticles, a capture probe (CP) conjugated with magnetic beads, and an illicit drug-binding DNA aptamer (Apt). Au@Ag nanoparticles were synthesized by seed growth and characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and UV–vis spectra. Methamphetamine (METH) was used as an example to evaluate the feasibility of the biosensor and to optimize the detection conditions. We demonstrated that this sensing platform was able to detect as low as 0.1 nM (14.9 ng L−1) METH with a negligible interference from other common illicit drugs. Various concentrations of METH were spiked into urines, and the biosensor yielded recoveries more than 83.1%. In addition, the biosensor also showed a high sensitivity to detect cocaine. These results demonstrated that our colorimetric sensor holds promise to be implemented as a visual sensing platform to detect multiple illicit drugs in biological samples and environmental matrices.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Yang, Dr Zhugen
• Authors: Mao, K., Yang, Z., Li, J., Zhou, X., Li, X., and Hu, J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Talanta
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0039-9140
• ISSN (Online): 1873-3573
• Published Online: 03 July 2017
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in Talanta 175:338-346
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher