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Introduction of multilayered quantum dot nanobeads into competitive lateral flow assays for ultrasensitive and quantitative monitoring of pesticides in complex samples

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Abstract

A competitive fluorescent lateral flow assay (CFLFA) is proposed for direct, ultrasensitive, quantitative detection of common pesticides imidacloprid (IMI) and carbendazim (CBZ) in complex food samples by using silica–core multilayered quantum dot nanobeads (SiO2-MQB) as liquid fluorescent tags. The SiO2-MQB nanostructure comprises a 200-nm SiO2 core and a shell of hundreds of carboxylated QDs (excitation/emission maxima ~365/631 nm), and can generate better stability, superior dispersibility, and higher luminescence than traditional fluorescent beads, greatly improving the sensitivity of current LFA methods for pesticides. Moreover, using liquid SiO2-MQB directly instead of via the conjugate pad both simplifies the structure of LFA system and improves the efficiency of immunobinding reactions between nanotags and the targets. Applying these methods, the established CFLFA realized the stable and accurate detection of IMI and CBZ in 12 min, with detection limits down to 1.94 and 14.79 pg/mL, respectively. The SiO2-MQB-CFLFA is practicable for application to real food samples (corn, apple, cucumber, and cabbage), and undoubtedly a promising and low-cost tool for on-site monitoring of trace pesticide residues.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 32200076), the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (Grant no. 2208085MB29), and the Medical instrument supervise program of Hefei institute of physical science.CAS (YZJJ2021-J-YQ4).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. School of Physics and Electronic Information, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China

      Zhenmei Wang & Chijian Zhang

    2. Hefei Institute of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230036, People’s Republic of China

      Shuai Zheng, Wenqi Wang, Qian Wang, Zhigang Li, Shu Wang & Long Zhang

    3. Wan Jiang new industry technology development center, Tongling, 244000, People’s Republic of China

      Yong Liu

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    Contributions

    Zhenmei Wang: Conceptualization, methodology, writing original draft; Shuai Zheng: Methodology, writing original draft; Chijian Zhang and Wenqi Wang: Methodology, data curation; Qian Wang and Zhigang Li.: Methodology; Yong Liu: Writing review & editing, supervision; Long Zhang.:Conceptualization, writing review & editing, supervision; Shu Wang: Funding acquisition, writing review & editing, supervision. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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    Zhenmei Wang and Shuai Zheng contributed equally to this work.

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    ESM 1

    Additional experimental description (S1. Reagents, materials, and instruments; S2. Synthesis of SiO2 nanomicrospheres; S3. Preparation of SiO2-MQB nanomaterial complexes; S4. Preparation of colloidal AuNP-based LFA strip; S5. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; S6. Calculation of maximum number of QDs onto SiO2-MQB), and supporting figures (Figures S1-S13) mentioned in the main text. (DOCX 32310 kb)

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    Wang, Z., Zheng, S., Zhang, C. et al. Introduction of multilayered quantum dot nanobeads into competitive lateral flow assays for ultrasensitive and quantitative monitoring of pesticides in complex samples. Microchim Acta 190, 361 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05913-w

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