Immunochromatography (ICA) remains untapped toward enhanced
sensitivity
and applicability for fulfilling the nuts and bolts of on-site food
safety surveillance. Herein, we report a fortified dual-spectral overlap
with enhanced colorimetric/fluorescence dual-response ICA for on-site
bimodal-type gentamicin (Gen) monitoring by employing polydopamine
(PDA)-coated AuNPs (APDA) simultaneously serving as a colorimetric
reporter and a fluorescence quencher. Availing of the enhanced colorimetric
response that originated from the PDA layer, the resultant APDA exhibits
less required antibody and immunoprobes in a single immunoassay, which
facilitates improved antibody utilization efficiency and immuno-recognition
in APDA-ICA. Further integrated with the advantageous features of
fortified excitation and emission dual-spectral overlap for the Arg/ATT-AuNCs,
this APDA-ICA with a “turn on/off” pattern achieves
the visual limits of detection of 1.0 and 0.5 ng mL–1 for colorimetric and fluorescence patterns (25- and 50-fold lower
than standard AuNPs-ICA). Moreover, the excellent self-calibration
and satisfactory recovery of 79.03–118.04% were shown in the
on-site visual colorimetric–fluorescence analysis for Gen in
real environmental media (including real river water, an urban aquaculture
water body, an aquatic product, and an animal byproduct). This work
provides the feasibility of exploiting fortified dual-spectral overlap
with an enhanced colorimetric/fluorescence dual response for safeguarding
food safety and public health.