A novel electrochemical aflatoxin B1 immunosensor based on gold nanoparticle-decorated porous graphene nanoribbon and Ag nanocube-incorporated MoS2 nanosheets

Abstract

The accurate and precisive monitoring of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), which is one of the most hazardous mycotoxins, especially in agricultural products, is significant for human and environmental health. AFB1 generally contaminates agricultural products such as corn and feedstuff. In this paper, a novel electrochemical AFB1 immunosensor was constructed based on Ag nanocubes (AgNCs) incorporated trigonal metallic MoS₂ nanosheets with 1T phase (AgNCs/1T-MoS₂) as signal amplification and gold nanoparticles/porous graphene nanoribbon (AuNPs/PGNR) as an electrochemical sensor platform. First, the chronoamperometry method was implemented to provide electrodeposition of AuNPs on PGNR following chemical reduction of PGNR. Immobilization of the primer AFB1 antibody was performed via amino-gold affinity between primer antibody and AuNPs/PGNR composite. Subsequently, the conjugation of seconder antibody to AgNCs/1T-MoS₂ was performed by strong π–π and electrostatic interactions. To describe the surface morphology and elemental composition of the prepared electrochemical AFB1 immunosensor, physicochemical characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used. Furthermore, cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were used to evaluate the immunosensor's electrochemical performance. The developed electrochemical AFB1 immunosensor offered a good sensitivity with a detection limit (LOD) of 2.00 fg mL⁻¹. Finally, an electrochemical AFB1 immunosensor with satisfactory selectivity, stability and reusability was applied in wheat samples with high recovery.