Black phosphorus-Au nanocomposite-based fluorescence immunochromatographic sensor for high-sensitive detection of zearalenone in cereals

Rapid and high-sensitive detection of mycotoxins is believed to be of vital importance in assuring food safety. In this study, we developed a novel fluorescence immunochromatographic sensor (ICS) for the mycotoxin of zearalenone (ZEN) in cereals. This was done by using a black phosphorus-Au nanocomposite (BP-Au) as the 2D quenching platform. Herein, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were directly reduced on the surface of BP nanosheets (BPNSs) to form BP-Au nanocomposites, showing higher fluorescence (quantum dots, λEm = 525 nm) quenching efficiency compared to the BPNSs and AuNPs. The fluorescence quenching efficiency of the prepared BP-Au nanocomposite reached 73.8%, which was 1.73-fold and 1.44-fold higher than AuNPs and BPNSs, respectively. The density functional theory was also successfully used to explore the formation mechanism of the BP-Au nanocomposite. By introducing the quantum dots/BP-Au signal/quencher pair, a high-sensitive fluorescence quenching ICS (B-FICS) was developed for the detection and discrimination of ZEN with the limit of detection of 0.1 μg/l in pure working buffer. This was 2.5-fold more sensitive than AuNPs-based FICS (A-FICS). The B-FICS was successfully applied in real cereals detection with the sample limit of detection of 2 μg/kg. The successful construction of B-FICS offers a novel method for a rapid and high-sensitive detection of ZEN in cereals. It also provides a new practical application of 2D BPNSs in food safety sensing.