We report a highly sensitive electrochemical sensor for the detection of Hg(2+) ions in aqueous solution by using a thymine (T)-rich, mercury-specific oligonucleotide (MSO) probe and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs)-based signal amplification. The MSO probe contains seven thymine bases at both ends and a "mute" spacer in the middle, which, in the presence of Hg(2+), forms a hairpin structure via the Hg(2+)-mediated coordination of T-Hg(2+)-T base pairs. The thiolated MSO probe is immobilized on Au electrodes to capture free Hg(2+) in aqueous media, and the MSO-bound Hg(2+) can be electrochemically reduced to Hg(+), which provides a readout signal for quantitative detection of Hg(2+). This direct immobilization strategy leads to a detection limit of 1 microM. In order to improve the sensitivity, MSO probe-modified Au NPs are employed to amplify the electrochemical signals. Au NPs are comodified with the MSO probe and a linking probe that is complementary to a capture DNA probe immobilized on gold electrodes. We demonstrated that this Au NPs-based sensing strategy brings about an amplification factor of more than 3 orders of magnitude, leading to a limit of detection of 0.5 nM (100 ppt), which satisfactorily meets the sensitivity requirement of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This Au NPs-based Hg(2+) sensor also exhibits excellent selectivity over a spectrum of interference metal ions. Considering the high sensitivity and selectivity of this sensor, as well as the cost-effective and portable features of electrochemical techniques, we expect this Au NPs amplified electrochemical sensor will be a promising candidate for field detection of environmentally toxic mercury.

Metal species have a relatively high mobility inside mesoporous silica; thus, it is difficult to introduce the metal precursors into silica mesopores and suppress the migration of metal species during a reduction process. Therefore, until now, the controlled growth of metal nanocrystals in a confined space, i.e., mesoporous channels, has been very challenging. Here, by using a soft-enveloping reaction at the interfaces of the solid, liquid, and solution phases, we successfully control the growth of metallic nanocrystals inside a mesoporous silica template. Diverse monodispersed nanostructures with well-defined sizes and shapes, including Ag nanowires, 3D mesoporous Au, AuAg alloys, Pt networks, and Au nanoparticle superlattices are successfully obtained. The 3D mesoporous AuAg networks exhibit enhanced catalytic activities in an electrochemical methanol oxidation reaction. The current soft-enveloping synthetic strategy offers a robust approach to synthesize diverse mesoporous metal nanostructures that can be utilized in catalysis, optics, and biomedicine applications.