Rare earth ions‐enhanced gold nanoclusters as fluorescent sensor array for the detection and discrimination of phosphate anions

Abstract

The discrimination and detection of phosphate anions have attracted extensive attention due to their important roles in various biological processes. Compared with sensors to detect one individual phosphate at a time, sensor arrays are able to discriminate multiple phosphates simultaneously. In this study, we developed a rare earth ions enhanced AuNCs-based sensor array to achieve facile and rapid identification of phosphate anions (PPi, ADP and ATP). The rare earth ions (i. e., Ce 3 + , Gd 3 + , Tm 3 + and Yb 3 +) can significantly enhance the fluorescence of AuNCs through aggregation-induced emission effect. And the subsequent addition of phosphate anions can recover the fluorescence of the AuNCs-rare earth ions assembly. Thanks to the different numbers of phosphate group and different steric hindrance effects of phosphate anions, the recovery fluorescence of AuNCs-rare earth ions assembly induced by PPi, ADP or ATP are respectively distinct. Thus the sensor array composed of AuNCs and different rare earth ions is able to distinguish those phosphate anions. Finally, the sensor array was successfully demonstrated to identify the phosphates in blind samples.

Recent Progress in Sensor Arrays: From Construction Principles of Sensing Elements to Applications

“…For further simplification of the sensing elements, adding a series of regulators into the same basic material is an alternative to obtain the multiple sensing receptors with single signal. − The pattern recognition is realized via the changes of signal from basic material induced by the competitive reaction between the regulator and the analyte. For instance, a colorimetric sensor array using polydopamine (PDA)-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as colorimetric probes and five metal ions as regulators has been successfully designed for the detection of biothiols (Figure A) .…”

Nanomaterials for molecular recognition: specific adsorption and regulation of nanozyme activities

“…The main recognition mechanism is based on intermolecular interactions between fluorescent nanomaterials and analytes (such as biological small molecules, proteins, and heavy metal ions), resulting in a change in the emission wavelength or fluorescence intensity of nanomaterials. 28 The above fluorescent nanomaterials mainly involve quantum dots, 29,30 noble metal nanoclusters, 31 and lanthanide containing MOFs. 23…”

Metal Ion-Regulated Fluorescent Sensor Array Based on Gold Nanoclusters for Physiological Phosphate Sensing

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