Tungsten disulfide (WS) nanosheet-based photoelectrochemical aptasensing of chloramphenicol.

A method is described for photoelectrochemical determination of chloramphenicol (CLOA). It is based on the use of (a) aptamers protected with photoactive WS nanosheets, and (b) DNase I-assisted target recycling. The DNA aptamer without label was employed for recognition of CLOA. In the absence of CLOA, the aptamer is adsorbed on the surface of WS. This leads to a decrease of photocurrent due to the steric-hindrance effect of aptamer DNA. The adsorption of WS also protects the aptamer from digestion by DNase. In the presence of CLOA, the aptamer will be desorbed from the WS surface due to formation of an aptamer/CLOA conjugate. This results in an increased photocurrent due to a decreased amount of aptamer DNA on the electrode surface. The increase of photocurrent can be further improved by applying DNase triggered catalytic recycling of CLOA. Under optimal experimental conditions, the response is linear 10 pM - 10 nM CLOA concentration range, with a 3.6 pM lower detection limit (at 3σ). This method is acceptably selective, accurate and stable. It was applied to the determination of CLOA in spiked milk samples and gave satisfactory results. Graphical abstract A simple and sensitive photoelectrochemical apta-biosensor was fabricated for chloramphenicol detection. In this work, WS nanosheets were employed as photoactive material, and DNase I catalytic chloramphenicol recycling strategy was adopted to amplify the detection signal.