"Turn-on" and pinhole-free ultrathin core-shell Au@SiO nanoparticle-based metal-enhanced fluorescent (MEF) chemodosimeter for Hg.

This study reports a metal-enhanced fluorescence chemodosimeter for highly sensitive detection of Hg ions. Silica-coated Au nanoparticles (Au@SiO NPs) with a pinhole-free 4-5 nm shell were synthesized and functionalized with a monolayer of turn-on fluorescent probes. Compared to other organic fluorescent probes suffering from poor biocompatibility and detection limits, this design of a monolayer of turn-on fluorescent probes immobilized on the Au@SiO NPs with a pinhole-free 4-5 nm shell avoids fluorescence quenching and allows the fluorescent probe within the field of the inner Au NPs to experience metal-enhanced fluorescence. With this design, the chemodosimeter permits fluorescence emission in the presence of Hg ions, because they trigger the ring-opening reaction of the fluorescent probe immobilized on the Au@SiO NPs. Additionally, the fluorescent probe is distanced by the thin SiO shell from directly attaching to the metallic Au NPs, which not only avoids fluorescence quenching but allows the fluorescent probe within the long-ranged field of the inner Au NPs to experience metal-enhanced fluorescence. As a result, the detection limit for the chemodosimeter can reach up to 5.0 × 10 M, nearly two orders of magnitude higher than that achieved for the free fluorescent probe. We also demonstrate the acquisition of images of Hg in HTC116 cells and zebrafish using a simple fluorescence confocal imaging technique. The fluorescence response results for HTC116 cells and zebrafish show that the probes can permeate into cells and organisms. Considering the availability of the many organic fluorescent probes that have been designed, the current designed metal-enhanced fluorescence chemodosimeter holds great potential for fluorescence detection of diverse species and fluorescence imaging.