A novel protein corona-induced aggregation-ECL strategy based on poly-l-cys/Cu NCs for detecting microplastics in
Tszyin Poon1, Zhenrun Li1, Ning Liu1
1Department of Analytical Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.
Abstract:
To address the health risks posed by microplastics (MPs), this work developed a poly-l-cysteine (poly-L-cys)-based electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor for detecting MPs in water environments. The porous structure of poly-L-cys film can regulate the generation of copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) in the pores, effectively limiting the migration and aggregation of nanopaticles. In addition, poly-L-cys film also acted as co-reactant promoters, promoting electron transfer and effectively enhancing ECL signal of Cu NCs. Therefore, Cu NCs in the poly-L-cys porous membrane has been used as luminescent probes. Furthermore, the poly-L-cys/Cu NC-based ECL sensor was constructed with the protein corona induced aggregation effect (PCIAE) to determine the concentration of MP. Due to the strong binding affinity of PCIAE, MP can adsorb strongly to biomolecule surfaces as a protein crown. So, the modified BSA on the poly-L-cys film was removed by MP, resulting in the ECL signal enhancement. The PCIAE-ECL sensor has been successfully applied to measure MP in lakes with excellent recovery rates (90.7-106.0 %). The PCIAE-ECL sensor provided a new analytical method for detecting MPs in water environments.
