Gold@Carbon Quantum Dots Nanocomposites Based Two-In-One Sensor: A Novel Approach for Sensitive Detection of Aminoglycosides Antibiotics in Food Samples

Abstract

Antibiotics are life-saving drugs for humans, but their unwanted use leads to antibacterial resistance (ABR) and causes serious health problems. The excess of these antibiotics entered to the food chain and caused food contamination. Here, Au@CQDs nanocomposites (NCs) was used as a two-in-one sensor to detect two antibiotics. The color change of AuNCs and fluorescence resonance energy transfer are two distance-dependent phenomena used as sensing mechanisms. In the sensing process, Au@CQDs NCs change their color, enhancing the fluorescence intensity of NCs in the presence of Gentamicin (GENTA) and Kanamycin (KMC) antibiotics. The limit of detection of 116 nM and 133 nM for GENTA and 195 nM and 120 nM for KMC have been achieved with colorimetric and fluorimetric readout, respectively. The practicality of the reported sensor was evaluated in real spiked samples and showed excellent recovery efficiency. Therefore this two-in-one sensor can be used for the food monitoring system.