Issue 9, 2024

“Turn-on” and pinhole-free ultrathin core–shell Au@SiO2 nanoparticle-based metal-enhanced fluorescent (MEF) chemodosimeter for Hg2+

Abstract

This study reports a metal-enhanced fluorescence chemodosimeter for highly sensitive detection of Hg2+ ions. Silica-coated Au nanoparticles (Au@SiO2 NPs) with a pinhole-free 4–5 nm shell were synthesized and functionalized with a monolayer of turn-on fluorescent probes. Compared to other organic fluorescent probes suffering from poor biocompatibility and detection limits, this design of a monolayer of turn-on fluorescent probes immobilized on the Au@SiO2 NPs with a pinhole-free 4–5 nm shell avoids fluorescence quenching and allows the fluorescent probe within the field of the inner Au NPs to experience metal-enhanced fluorescence. With this design, the chemodosimeter permits fluorescence emission in the presence of Hg2+ ions, because they trigger the ring-opening reaction of the fluorescent probe immobilized on the Au@SiO2 NPs. Additionally, the fluorescent probe is distanced by the thin SiO2 shell from directly attaching to the metallic Au NPs, which not only avoids fluorescence quenching but allows the fluorescent probe within the long-ranged field of the inner Au NPs to experience metal-enhanced fluorescence. As a result, the detection limit for the chemodosimeter can reach up to 5.0 × 10−11 M, nearly two orders of magnitude higher than that achieved for the free fluorescent probe. We also demonstrate the acquisition of images of Hg2+ in HTC116 cells and zebrafish using a simple fluorescence confocal imaging technique. The fluorescence response results for HTC116 cells and zebrafish show that the probes can permeate into cells and organisms. Considering the availability of the many organic fluorescent probes that have been designed, the current designed metal-enhanced fluorescence chemodosimeter holds great potential for fluorescence detection of diverse species and fluorescence imaging.

Graphical abstract: “Turn-on” and pinhole-free ultrathin core–shell Au@SiO2 nanoparticle-based metal-enhanced fluorescent (MEF) chemodosimeter for Hg2+

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Ndz 2023
Accepted
16 N’w 2023
First published
02 Dzi 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2024,6, 2319-2327

“Turn-on” and pinhole-free ultrathin core–shell Au@SiO2 nanoparticle-based metal-enhanced fluorescent (MEF) chemodosimeter for Hg2+

Y. Cui, S. Fan, Y. Zhai, Y. Liu, J. Li, J. Hu and L. Wang, Nanoscale Adv., 2024, 6, 2319 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00746D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements