Sensing of mercury ions in Porphyra by Copper @ Gold nanoclusters based ratiometric fluorescent aptasensor.

A novel aptamer-modified Copper @ Gold nanoclusters (apt-Cu@Au NCs) based ratiometric fluorescent probe was developed for mercury ions (Hg) determination in Porphyra. The apt-Cu@Au NCs were well dispersed in solution without Hg but combined together for the formation of thymidine-Hg-thymidine structure with the addition of Hg, which further caused the changes in their fluorescence intensities owing to fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Along with that, the changes in fluorescent colors are visible to the naked eye. Accordingly, Hg were determined ranging from 0.1 to 9.0 μM by fluorescence analysis with the detection limit of 4.92 nM. Moreover, a homemade device utilizing smartphone and microfluidic chip was designed for colorimetric determination of Hg ranging from 0.5 to 7.0 μM with good portability and usefulness. The proposed methods were used for Hg detection in Porphyra with the recoveries of 101.83-114.00%, suggesting the considerable potential for evaluating Hg levels in aquatic products.