A Lab-in-a-Syringe Device Integrated with a Smartphone Platform: Colorimetric and Fluorescent Dual-Mode Signals for On-Site Detection of Organophosphorus Pesticides

Abstract

Herein, a portable lab-in-a-syringe device integrated with a smartphone sensing platform was designed for rapid, visual quantitative determination of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) via colorimetric and fluorescent signals. The device was chiefly made up of a conjugate pad labeled with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-coated gold nanoparticles (CTAB-Au NPs) and a sensing pad modified by ratiometric probes (red-emission quantum dots@SiO2 nanoparticles@green-emission quantum dots, rQDs@SiO2@gQDs probe), which was assembled through a disposable syringe and reusable plastic filter. In the detection system, thiocholine (Tch), the hydrolysis product of thioacetylcholine (ATch) by acetylcholinesterase (AchE), could trigger the aggregation of CTAB-Au NPs, resulting in a significant color change from red to purple. Then, CTAB-Au NPs flowed vertically upward and bound to the rQDs@SiO2@gQDs probe on the sensing pad, reducing the fluorescence resonance energy transfer effect between CTAB-Au NPs and gQDs. Meanwhile, rQDs embedded in SiO2 NPs remained stable as internal reference fluorescence, achieving a color transition from red to green. Thus, based on the inhibition of AChE activity by OPs, a colorimetric and fluorescent dual-mode platform was constructed for on-site detection of OPs. Using glyphosate as a model, with the support of a color recognizer application (APP) on a smartphone, the ratio of red and green channel values could be utilized for accurate OP quantitative analysis ranging from 0 to 10 μM with a detection limit of 2.81 nM (recoveries, 90.8–122.4%; CV, 1.2–3.4%). Overall, the portable lab-in-a-syringe device based on a smartphone sensing platform integrated sample monitoring and result analysis in the field, implying great potential for on-site detection of OPs.