Ultrasensitive point-of-care biochemical sensor based on metal-AlEgen frameworks

Point-of-care (POC) biochemical sensors have found broad applications in areas ranging from clinical diagnosis to environmental monitoring. However, POC sensors often suffer from poor sensitivity. Here, we synthesized a metal-organic framework, where the ligand is the aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AlEgen), which we call metal-AlEgen frameworks (MAFs), for use in the ultrasensitive POC biochemical sensors. MAFs process a unique luminescent mechanism of structural rigidity-enhanced emission to achieve a high quantum yield (similar to 99.9%). We optimized the MAFs to show 10(2)- to 10(3)-fold enhanced sensitivity for a hydrogel-based POC digital sensor and lateral flow immunoassays (LFIA). MAFs have a high affinity to directly absorb proteins, which can label antibodies for immunoassays. MAFs-based LFIA with enhanced sensitivity shows robust serum detection for POC clinical diagnosis.

Automated summary

Point-of-care biochemical sensors have broad applications but suffer from poor sensitivity. Researchers developed metal-AlEgen frameworks (MAFs) as ultrasensitive sensors, exhibiting high quantum yield and unique luminescent mechanism. Optimized MAFs showed 10^2 to 10^3-fold enhanced sensitivity for POC sensors and LFIA, enabling robust serum detection for clinical diagnosis.