A naked-eye colorimetric sensor for Hg2+ monitoring with cascade signal amplification based on target-induced conjunction of split DNAzyme fragments

A colorimetric sensor for the visual detection of Hg2+ with cascade signal amplification has been successfully constructed using split DNAzyme subunits as sensing elements and gold nanoparticles as signal reporters. The biosensor is ultrasensitive, enabling the visual detection of trace levels of Hg2+ as low as 10 pM without instrumentation.