Mesoporous materials modified by aptamers and hydrophobic groups assist ultra-sensitive insulin detection in serum

Abstract

A novel mesoporous material modified with both insulin-binding-aptamers and hydrophobic methyl groups is synthesized. With rationally designed pore structures and surface chemistry, this material is applied in sample pre-treatment for ELISA, and enables the quantification (0.25–5 pg ml⁻¹) of insulin in serum, 30-fold enhancement of the limit-of-detection compared to the commercial ELISA kit.