Diethylstilbestrol
(DES), an endocrine disrupting chemical, has
been linked to serious health problems in humans. In this work, a
regenerative flexible upconversion-fluorescence biosensor was designed
for the detection of DES in foodstuffs and environmental samples.
Herein, amino-functionalized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) were
synthesized and immobilized on the surface of a flexible polydimethylsiloxane
substrate, which was further modified with complementary DNA and dabcyl-labeled
DES aptamer. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) system
was established for DES detection between dabcyl and UCNPs as the
acceptor and donor pairs, respectively, which resulted in the quenching
of the upconversion luminescence intensity. In the presence of a target,
the FRET system was destroyed and upconversion fluorescence was restored
due to the stronger affinity of the aptamer toward DES. The designed
biosensor was also implemented in a dual-mode signal readout based
on images from a smartphone and spectra from a spectrometer. Under
the optimized experimental conditions, good linear relationships were
achieved based on imaging (y = 53.055x + 36.175, R
2 = 0.9851) and spectral
data (y = 1.1582x + 1.9561, R
2 = 0.9897). The designed biosensor revealed
great practicability with a spiked recovery rate of 77.91–97.95%
for DES detection in real environment and foodstuff samples. Furthermore,
the proposed biosensor was regenerated seven times with an accuracy
threshold of 80% demonstrating its durability and reusability. Thus,
this biosensor is expected to be applied to point-of-care and on-site
detection based on the developed portable smartphone device and android
application.