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Rapid color-fading colorimetric sensing of Hg in environmental samples: regulation mechanism from DNA dimension

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Abstract

It was found that dimension change of aptamer DNA significantly weakened the mimicking activity of gold nanozyme, which was contrary to previous research. Based on this, a rapid colorimetric method for the detection of low concentrations of mercury in environmental media was fabricated. It was observed that 40 nM Hg2+ causes color changes in solution. The detection limit of absorbance measurements was estimated to be 9.3 × 10–11 M. The assay was fast and could complete a single test in half an hour. The detection results for real environment samples confirmed the reliability of the colorimetric analysis in practical application. The proposed assay provides an alternative method for real-time monitoring of mercury in the environment. In particular, the charge effect on the affinity of nanozyme consummated the DNA regulation mechanism for the simulated enzyme activity.

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Funding

This work was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21605018) and the Natural Science Basic Research Project of Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2020JM-528 and No. 2021JZ-52).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geology and Environment, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Yingying Qi, Yuan Wang, Yiting Chen, Fu-Rong Xiu & Xiang Gao

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  1. Yingying Qi
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  2. Yuan Wang
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  3. Yiting Chen
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  4. Fu-Rong Xiu
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  5. Xiang Gao
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Correspondence to Yingying Qi.

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Qi, Y., Wang, Y., Chen, Y. et al. Rapid color-fading colorimetric sensing of Hg in environmental samples: regulation mechanism from DNA dimension. Microchim Acta 189, 76 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-022-05177-w

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