Sensitive determination of prostate-specific antigen with graphene quantum dot-based fluorescence aptasensor using few-layer VCT MXene as quencher.

A novel fluorescence aptasensor of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was established using few-layer vanadium carbide (FL-VCT) nanosheet as a quencher. First, FL-VCT was prepared by the delamination of multi-layer VCT (ML-VCT) with tetramethylammonium hydroxide. The aptamer-carboxyl graphene quantum dots (CGQDs) probe was prepared by combining the aminated PSA aptamer and CGQDs. Then, the aptamer-CGQDs were absorbed onto the surface of FL-VCT by hydrogen bond interaction, which led to the decrease in fluorescence of aptamer-CGQDs due to photoinduced energy transfer. After addition of PSA, PSA-aptamer-CGQDs complex was released from FL-VCT. The fluorescence intensity of aptamer-CGQDs-FL-VCT with PSA was higher than that without PSA. The FL-VCT-based fluorescence aptasensor provided a PSA detection linear range from 0.1 to 20 ng mL with detection limit of 0.03 ng mL. The ΔF value of fluorescence intensities for aptamer-CGQDs-FL-VCT with and without PSA was 5.6, 3.7, 7.7, and 5.4 times of ML-VCT, few-layer titanium carbide (FL-TiCT), ML-TiCT and graphene oxide aptasensors, respectively, indicating the advantage of FL-VCT. The aptasensor had high selectivity for PSA detection compared with some proteins and tumor markers. This proposed method had convenience and high sensitivity for PSA determination. The determination results of PSA in human serum samples using the aptasensor were consistent with those by chemiluminescent immunoanalysis. The fluorescence aptasensor can be successfully applied for PSA determination in serum samples of prostate cancer patients.