Bimetallic alloying gold-silver nanoclusters (Au-AgNCs) have been synthesized by a one-pot biomineralization synthesis route at a vital molar ratio of Au/Ag precursors in the protein matrix. Unexpectedly, the prepared Au-AgNCs could exhibit dramatically enhanced red fluorescence, which is about 6.5-fold and 4.7-fold higher than that of common AuNCs and core-shell Au@AgNCs, respectively. A rapid, selective, and ultrasensitive fluorimetric method has thereby been developed using Au-AgNCs as fluorescent probes toward the separate detections of Hg(2+) and Cu(2+) ions in blood. The interactions of Au-AgNCs with Hg(2+) and Cu(2+) ions were systematically characterized by microscopy imaging, UV-vis, and fluorescence measurements. It is demonstrated that the "silver effect" gives the Au-AgNCs probes not only greatly enhanced red fluorescence but also the strong capacity to specifically sense Cu(2+) ions in addition to improved response to Hg(2+) ions. Moreover, aided by a Cu(2+) chelating agent, exclusive detection of Hg(2+) ions could also be expected with the coexistence of a high level of Cu(2+) ions, as well as reversible Cu(2+) analysis by restoring the fluorescence of Au-AgNCs. Additionally, Au-AgNCs with strong red fluorescence could facilitate fluorimetric analysis with minimal interference from blood backgrounds. Such an Au-AgNCs-based fluorimetric method can allow for the selective analysis of Hg(2+) and Cu(2+) ions down to 0.30 nM and 0.60 nM in blood, respectively, promising a novel detection method to be applied in the clinical laboratory.

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An ultrasensitive sandwich-type analysis method has been initially developed for probing low-level free microRNAs (miRNAs) in blood by a maximal signal amplification protocol of catalytic silver deposition. Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) were first synthesized and in-site incorporated into alkaline phosphatase (ALP) to form the ALP-AuNCs. Unexpectedly, the so incorporated AuNCs could dramatically enhance the catalysis activities of ALP-AuNCs versus native ALP. A sandwiched hybridization protocol was then proposed using ALP-AuNCs as the catalytic labels of the DNA detection probes for targeting miRNAs that were magnetically caught from blood samples by DNA capture probes, followed by the catalytic ligation of two DNA probes complementary to the targets. Herein, the ALP-AuNC labels could act as the bicatalysts separately in the ALP-catalyzed substrate dephosphorylation reaction and the AuNCs-accelerated silver deposition reaction. The signal amplification of ALP-AuNCs-catalyzed silver deposition was thereby maximized to be measured by the electrochemical outputs. The developed electroanalysis strategy could allow for the ultrasensitive detection of free miRNAs in blood with the detection limit as low as 21.5 aM, including the accurate identification of single-base mutant levels in miRNAs. Such a sandwich-type analysis method may circumvent the bottlenecks of the current detection techniques in probing short-chain miRNAs. It would be tailored as an ultrasensitive detection candidate for low-level free miRNAs in blood toward the diagnosis of cancer and the warning or monitoring of cancer metastasis in the clinical laboratory.

Fe3O4nanocatalysts loaded on graphene oxide-dispersed CNTs (GCNTs) for GCNT–Fe3O4nanocomposites with enhanced aqueous stability and peroxidase-like catalysis and electrocatalysis.

A powerful enzymatic mimetic has been fabricated by employing graphene oxide (GO) nanocolloids to disperse conductive carbon supports of hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) before and after the loading of Pt nanocatalysts. The resulting GOCNT-Pt nanocomposites could present improved aqueous dispersion stability and Pt spatial distribution. Unexpectedly, they could show greatly enhanced peroxidase-like catalysis and electrocatalysis activities in water, as evidenced in the colorimetric and electrochemical investigations in comparison to some inorganic nanocatalysts commonly used. Moreover, it is found that the new enzyme mimetics could exhibit peroxidase-like catalysis activity comparable to natural enzymes; yet, they might circumvent some of their inherent problems in terms of catalysis efficiency, electron transfer, environmental stability, and cost effectiveness. Also, sandwiched electrochemical immunoassays have been successfully conducted using GOCNT-Pt as enzymatic tags. Such a fabrication avenue of noble metal nanocatalysts loaded on well-dispersed conductive carbon supports should be tailored for the design of different enzyme mimics promising the extensive catalysis applications in environmental, medical, industrial, and particularly aqueous biosensing fields.