Oligonucleotide-functionalized gold nanoparticles-enhanced QCM-D sensor for mercury(ii) ions with high sensitivity and tunable dynamic range

Abstract

A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) sensor was developed for highly sensitive and specific detection of mercury(II) ions (Hg²⁺) with a tunable dynamic range, using oligonucleotide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for both frequency and dissipation amplification. The fabrication of the sensor employed a ‘sandwich-type’ strategy, and formation of T–Hg²⁺–T structures in linker DNA reduced the hybridization of the GNPs-tagged DNA on the gold electrode, which could be used as the molecular switch for Hg²⁺ sensing. This QCM-D mercury sensor showed a linear response of 10–200 nM, with detection limits of 4 nM and 7 nM for frequency and dissipation measurements, respectively. Moreover, the dynamic range of the sensor could be tuned by simply altering the concentration of linker DNA without designing new sensors in the cases where detection of Hg²⁺ at different levels is required. This sensor afforded excellent selectivity toward Hg²⁺ compared with other potential coexisting metal ions. The feasibility of the sensor was demonstrated by analyzing Hg²⁺-spiked tap- and lake-water samples with satisfactory recoveries. The proposed approach extended the application of the QCM-D system in metal ions sensing, and could be adopted for the detection of other analytes when complemented with the use of functional DNA structures.