Ligand Engineering-Based High-Efficiency Photothermal Sensors Powered Sensitive Lateral Flow Immunoassay Platform

Area of Science:

• Nanomaterials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biosensing

Background:

• Photothermal lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is valuable for on-site quantitative detection.
• Developing sensitive methods for low-concentration targets remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize novel Fe3+-chelated quinone nanoparticles (FQNPs) using a ligand engineering strategy.
• To develop a highly sensitive photothermal LFIA based on FQNPs for detecting chlorantraniliprole (CHL).

Main Methods:

• Synthesized FQNPs using quinones (naphthazarin, quinizarine, purpurin, THAQ) as ligands.
• Fabricated a photothermal LFIA using optimized FQNPs-T (tetrahydroxyanthraquinone-based).
• Validated the FQNPs-LFIA for CHL detection in apple and chili samples.

Main Results:

• FQNPs-T demonstrated superior light absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency.
• The FQNPs-LFIA achieved a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.021 ng mL-1 for CHL within 25 min.
• Achieved high accuracy with recovery rates of 84.29-113.58% and low variability (CV 4.20-14.84%).

Conclusions:

• FQNPs-LFIA offers a significant improvement in sensitivity and speed for CHL detection compared to conventional methods.
• This technology shows great promise for sensitive and accurate food contaminant screening.
• Paves the way for rapid screening of various food contaminants.