Portable electrochemiluminescence detection system based on silicon photomultiplier single photon detector and aptasensor for the detection of tetracycline in milk

In this work, a portable electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection system based on silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) single photon detector was proposed for the detection of ECL signals on a screen-printed electrode (SPE). This instrument innovatively used SiPM single photon detector to detect the ECL signal, which solved friability and bloat caused by the high operating voltage and the limitation of detection components in the traditional ECL detection instrument. This detection instrument showed excellent electrochemical and ECL detection performance. On this basis, an aptasensor based on silver (core)-gold (shell) bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag@AuNPs) was constructed for the detection of tetracycline (TET) in milk on SPE. Here, Ag@AuNPs had a significant effect in enhancing luminol ECL signal and immobilizing aptamer. The concentration of TET was detected according to the changes of the ECL signal intensity of the detection instrument. This instrument exhibited an excellent linearity ranging from 0.01 ng/mL to 1,000 ng/mL for the detection of TET, and a limit of detection (LOD) was 0.0053 ng/mL. The developed portable ECL detection instrument provides a new platform for the detection of small molecule contaminants.

Automated summary

A portable electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection system based on silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) single photon detector was proposed for the detection of ECL signals on a screen-printed electrode (SPE). This instrument solved the friability and bloat issues of traditional ECL detection instruments by using SiPM single photon detector to detect the ECL signal. An aptasensor based on silver (core)-gold (shell) bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag@AuNPs) was constructed for the detection of tetracycline (TET) in milk on SPE, which showed an excellent linearity and a low limit of detection.