Facile, one-pot and scalable synthesis of highly emissive aqueous-based Ag,Ni:ZnCdS/ZnS core/shell quantum dots with high chemical and optical stability

An electrochemical tyrosinamide aptasensor using a glassy carbon electrode modified by N-acetyl-l-cysteine-capped Ag-In-S QDs

This paper reports an aptamer-based green approach for the electrochemical evaluation of tyrosinamide (Tyr-NH₂). In this regard, at the first step, an aqueous synthetic strategy for preparing N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC)-capped Ag-In-S (AIS) quantum dots (QDs) with bright yellow/orange emission was developed. The conjugation of AIS QDs to NAC-biomolecules provides opportunities for using them as luminescent contrast agents for living cell tracking and labeling or sensing studies. In the next step, the design stage of the aptasensor, the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was modified with the AIS QDs and then the Tyr-NH₂ special aptamer, which has an amine group at its end, interacts with silver and indium ions at the surface of the AIS QDs and through the formation of covalent bonding of AgN and InN, attaches to the GCE surface modified with the AIS QDs. In this approach, for the first time, NAC-capped AIS QDs have been used to modify the electrode surface in the aptamer-based electrochemical sensor. The response changes of the [Fe(CN)₆]^4-/3- as redox probe, during the modification of GCE surface, the fabrication and assessment of proposed aptasensing, using the cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were recorded. The designed aptasensor for the Tyr-NH₂ evaluation showed good linearity from 0.01 to 2.81 nM and 2.81-10.81 nM, and low detection limit of 3.34 pM. The obtained results of the stability, reproducibility and selectivity investigations implying that the reported aptasensor as the first aptamer-based electrochemical assay for Tyr-NH₂, can be reliable for the determination of Tyr-NH₂ in serum samples.

Luminescent, low-toxic and stable gradient-alloyed Fe:ZnSe(S)@ZnSe(S) core:shell quantum dots as a sensitive fluorescent sensor for lead ions

In this paper, an aqueous-based approach is introduced for facile, fast, and green synthesis of gradient-alloyed Fe-doped ZnSe(S)@ZnSe(S) core:shell quantum dots (QDs) with intense and stable emission. Co-utilization of co-nucleation and growth doping strategies, along with systematic optimization of emission intensity, provide a well-controllable/general method to achieve internally doped QDs (d-dots) with intense emission. Results indicate that the alloyed ZnSe(S)@ZnSe(S) core:shell QDs have a gradient structure that consists of a Se-rich core and a S-rich shell. This gradient structure cannot only passivate the core d-dots by means of the wider band gap S-rich shell, but also minimizes the lattice mismatch between alloyed core-shell structures. Using this novel strategy and utilizing the wider band gap S-rich shell can obviously increase the cyan emission intensity and also drastically improve the emission stability against chemical and optical corrosion. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity experiments indicate that the obtained d-dots are nontoxic nanomaterials, and thus they can be considered as a promising alternative to conventional Cd-based QDs for fluorescent probes in biological fields. Finally, it is demonstrated that the present low-toxicity and gradient-alloyed core:shell d-dots can be used as sensitive chemical detectors for Pb²⁺ ions with excellent selectivity, small detection limit, and rapid response time.