Enhancing Ru(bpy)32+@TMU-13 electrochemiluminescence for ultrasensitive detection of AFP by a signal amplification strategy based on flower-like Au NPs/CoFe LDO/MoS2 NFs as double coreaction accelerators

Abstract

A signal amplification strategy based on a Ru(bpy)32+ luminescence functionalized metal-organic framework (MOF) and double coreaction accelerators was developed for the detection of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) by electrochemiluminescence (ECL). The high porosity and rich functional groups of MOF can improve the binding rate of biomolecules. Therefore, Ru(bpy)32+ was encapsulated by the three-dimensional hierarchical porous MOF TMU-13 as the luminescence nanoreactor. The complex exhibits stable and excellent luminescence efficiency and rich carboxyl functional groups, which can support enough antibodies. In addition, the process of K2S2O8 reduction was promoted by double coreaction accelerators, including MoS2 grown in CoFe LDOs in situ and in situ reduction of gold nanoparticle (AuNPs) nanoflower structures (AuNPs/CoFe LDO/MoS2 NFs), the ECL signal in the cathode was significantly increased. Under optimal conditions, the established AFP detection method exhibited a wide linear range of 10−5 ng·mL−1 to 100 ng·mL−1, and the detection limit was as low as 3.23 fg·mL−1. Importantly, this strategy shows great potential for application in the field of bioanalysis.