Target-mediated surface chemistry of gold nanorods for breaking the low color resolution limitation of monocolorimetric sensor

Abstract

A long-term limitation of low color resolution in the monocolorimetric sensors seriously restricts its extending application, especially for the traditional organic dyes-based monocolorimetric sensors. Herein, we explore a simple target-mediated surface chemistry-based modulation for regulating the surface of gold nanorods (AuNRs), resulting in a successful multicolorimetric sensor for inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPase) activity. It operates on the principle that PPase modulates the release of Fe3+ free from the ferric-pyrophosphate complex (Fe3+-PPi) through a specific target-catalyzed hydrolysis process, leading to a better mediation for the unique chemical redox reaction between Fe3+ and I−. Subsequently, I− is oxidized into I2, which as a moderate oxidant further regulates the surface of AuNRs due to the rapidly etching reaction between I2 and AuNRs. As a result, the resultant AuNRs surface change further leads to a blue-shift longitudinal LSPR effect of AuNRs, along with a naked-eye-detectable rainbow-like multicolor signal readout. Under optimal conditions, the proposed multicolorimetric sensor exhibits an affordable sensing performance for PPase activity in the range from 1.5 U L−1 to 9 U L−1 with a detection limit of 0.8 U L−1 (S/N = 3). To this point, our strategy not only provides a promising way for breaking the low color resolution limitation of the traditional monocolorimetric sensors, but also broadens the applicability of AuNRs etching-based multicolorimetric sensors.