Nanoparticles assembled by aptamers and crystal violet for arsenic(III) detection in aqueous solution based on a resonance Rayleigh scattering spectral assay.

Aptamer-assembled nanomaterials have captured much attention from the field of analytical chemistry in recent years. Although they have been regarded as a promising tool for heavy metal monitoring, report involving aptamer-based biosensors for arsenic detection are rare. Herein we developed a highly sensitive and selective aptamer biosensor for As(iii) detection based on a Resonance Rayleigh Scattering (RRS) spectral assay. Prior to As(iii) detection, we firstly assembled a variety of nanoparticles with different sizes via controlling the concentration of arsenic-binding aptamers in crystal violet (CV) solutions. The results of photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and scanning probe microscope (SPM) testified that the introduction of As(iii) had indeed changed the size of nanoparticles, which caused a great variation in the RRS intensity at 310 nm. In the presence of 100 ppb As(iii), a maximum decline in the ratio of RRS intensity was achieved for large nanoparticles assembled from 200 nM of aptamers and CV molecules, where the average size of nanoparticles had decreased from 273 nm to 168 nm. In the case of small nanoparticles, the maximum increase ratio of the RRS intensity was obtained when the concentration of aptamer was over 600 nM. Combined with an RRS spectral assay, an effective biosensor has been developed for As(iii) detection, using the above large and small nanoparticles as the target recognition element. The present biosensor has a detection limit as low as 0.2 ppb, a dynamic range from 0.1 ppb to 200 ppb, and high selectivity over other metal ions. Such an efficient biosensor will play an important role in environmental detection.