Label-Free Electrochemical Aptasensor Based on Stone-like\nGold Nanoparticles for Ultrasensitive Detection of Tetracycline

Abstract

The\nwidespread use of tetracycline (TET) for controlling bacterial\ninfections has led to its residues and accumulation in animal food\nand the environment, which leads to a serious threat to food safety\nand environmental protection. Therefore, it is essential to develop\na sensitive method to detect the residue TET. In this work, the stone-like\nAu nanoparticles (SL-AuNPs) possessing a large size and large exposed\nactive surfaces were prepared with a porous N-doped carbon aerogel\n(NCA) featuring high N atom content and a large specific surface area.\nCombining the advantages of NCA and SL-AuNPs, the coassembly of SL-AuNPs\nand NCA (NCA@SL-AuNPs) enables it to be an ultrasensitive electrochemical\naptasensor for tetracycline (TET) detection with a larger linear range\n(10^–15–10^–11 M) and a lower\ndetection limit (3.2 × 10^–16 M) than the previously\nreported aptasensor. Importantly, NCA@SL-AuNPs also exhibit excellent\nperformance for detecting TET in milk.