Ultrasensitive point-of-care biochemical sensor based on metal-AIEgen frameworks

Abstract

Point-of-care (POC) biochemical sensors have found broad applications in areas ranging from clinical diagnosis to environmental monitoring. However, POC sensors often suffer from poor sensitivity. Here, we synthesized a metal-organic framework, where the ligand is the aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen), which we call metal-AIEgen frameworks (MAFs), for use in the ultrasensitive POC biochemical sensors. MAFs process a unique luminescent mechanism of structural rigidity-enhanced emission to achieve a high quantum yield (~99.9%). We optimized the MAFs to show 10 2 - to 10 3 -fold enhanced sensitivity for a hydrogel-based POC digital sensor and lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA). MAFs have a high affinity to directly absorb proteins, which can label antibodies for immunoassays. MAFs-based LFIA with enhanced sensitivity shows robust serum detection for POC clinical diagnosis.

Recent advancements in nucleic acid detection with microfluidic chip for molecular diagnostics

“…Cellulose paper-based microfluidics can handle 0.1–100 μL of liquid through millimeter-scale fluidic channels [ 119 ]. As one of the popular applications of paper-based materials, lateral flow assay (LFA) is a user-friendly diagnostic tool [ [120] , [121] , [122] , [123] , [124] ].

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Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE), Life and Health

“…569 Jiang et al reported 1,1,2,2tetra(4-carboxylphenyl)ethylene (TCPE)@Zr MAFs and their application in POCT sensors. 570 By adding regulators, blueemissive MAFs were synthesized with different morphologies and sizes, and transparent MAFs@hydrogel composites for stable and ultrasensitive POCT were produced. Compared to the other fluorescent MOFs, the sensitivity of MAFs was enhanced about 1000 times.…”

Research development of porphyrin-based metal–organic frameworks: targeting modalities and cancer therapeutic applications

“…, which has attracted great attention from researchers. 34–37 Studies have found that MOFs have a wide range of application prospects, which not only achieve great success in gas storage, 38 separation, 39 catalysis, 40,41 energy 42,43 and sensing 44,45 but also show unparalleled potential in biomedical applications. 46–48…”