Open AccessHighly sensitive and selective optical sensor for lead ion detection based on liquid crystal decorated with DNAzyme
Author(s) -
Xinli Niu,
Yanjun Liu,
Fei Wang,
Dan Luo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.27.030421
Subject(s) - deoxyribozyme , naked eye , detection limit , materials science , metal ions in aqueous solution , ion , liquid crystal , biosensor , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , metal , optics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , metallurgy
Lead ions (Pb 2+ ) are one of the major environmental pollutants that are dangerous for human health, thus the detection methods of Pb 2+ become very important as well. However, most reported techniques suffer from drawbacks such as long time, expensive equipment and complicated testing process, which prevent the use of real-time application. Herein, we demonstrate a novel liquid crystal optical sensor for detection of Pb 2+ based on DNAzyme and its combined strand. The ordered and disordered configuration of liquid crystals, induced by complementary DNA strand and catalytically cleaved DNA in presence of lead ion separately, leads to dark and bright optical image under POM. The proposed naked-eye optical sensor possesses an extremely broad detection range of Pb 2+ from 50 nM to 500 µM, with a low detection limit about 36.8 nM. The sensor also demonstrates high selectivity of Pb 2+ from many other metal ions. The proposal LC sensor is highly sensitive and selective for Pb 2+ detection, which provides a novel platform for other heavy metal, DNAs or antigen in biological and chemical fields by modifying sensing molecules.