Aggregation-induced emission luminogen@manganese dioxide core-shell nanomaterial-based paper analytical device for equipment-free and visual detection of organophosphorus pesticide

Organophosphorus pesticide (OP) residues have gathered considerable attention because of their significant threat to society development and healthy life. Developing a sensitive and practical OPs sensor is highly urgent, whereas remains a huge challenge. To this end, we fabricated a high-performance fluorescence paper analytical device (PAD) for apparatus-free and visual sensing of OPs based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogen's bright emission in aggregated state, unique response of MnO2 to thiol compounds, and difference of MnO2 and Mn2+ in quenching fluorescence. AIE nanoparticles PTDNPs-0.10 and MnO2 respectively acted as core and shell to prepare PTDNPs@MnO2, which possessed high stability and were dripped on cellulose paper's surface to fabricate AIE-PAD. The sensing mechanism is that OPs-treated acetylcholinesterase (AChE) prevents the formation of thiocholine, thereby minimizing the reduction of MnO2 into Mn2+ and changing the output signal. As a result, equipment-free and visual sensing of OPs was acquired with limit of detection of 1.60 ng/mL. This work justifies the feasibility of applying core-shell material to develop high-performance sensor and substituting complex/expensive solution-phase sensor with PAD, providing a new avenue to bring OPs analysis out of the lab and into the world.

Automated summary

A high-performance fluorescence paper analytical device (PAD) was developed for equipment-free and visual sensing of organophosphorus pesticide residues, providing a new avenue to bring OPs analysis out of the lab and into the world.