Novel core etching technique of gold nanoparticles for colorimetric dopamine detection

This study develops a novel and high performance colorimetric probe for dopamine (DA) detection. Aqueous-phase gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) extracted with 4-(dimethylamino) pyridine (DMAP) from toluene solvent are used as the reaction probes. The original AuNPs of diameter around 13 nm separate into 2-5 nm sizes when dopamine (DA) is added, resulting in the color change of the AuNP solution from red to blackish green. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations and dynamic light scattering (DLS) tests show that the AuNPs break into their smaller sizes right after addition of DA. The results confirm that the DMAP capped AuNPs are etched by the DA molecules due to the strong affinity between DA and AuNPs, thus causing a blue shift in the absorption spectrum. The concentration of DA is quantitatively monitored by using a UV-Vis spectrometer with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 5 nM. In addition, the results also show that the methods developed appear to have no significant problems in detecting DA in the sample even with the presence of (10 mM) common interferents such as ascorbic acid (AA), homovanillic acid (HVA), catechol (CA) and glutathione (GSH). The developed AuNP etching protocol for dopamine detection provides a novel and versatile approach for rapid biosensing applications.