Autofluorescence-Free Sensing of Released Bisphenol A from Packaging Materials by a Persistent Luminescence Aptasensor

Bisphenol A (BPA), a typical endocrine-disrupting chemical, occurs in food samples due to its release from food packaging materials, posing a great exposure threat to human health. Selective and sensitive determination of released BPA from packaging materials is of great importance. Herein, we report a persistent luminescence aptasensor for the autofluorescence-free determination of released BPA from packaging materials with high selectivity and sensitivity. The proposed aptasensor was composed of BPA aptamer-functionalized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as the recognition and separation unit and complementary DNA (cDNA)-decorated ZnGeO₄:Mn²⁺ (ZGM) as the persistent luminescence source. The developed aptasensor combined the merits of the autofluorescence-free determination from ZGM, high selectivity from the aptamer, and rapid separation from magnetic Fe₃O₄. The proposed aptasensor gave a wide linear range from 1 ng L^-1 to 100 μg L^-1 and a low detection limit of 0.036 ng L^-1. The precision for the determination of 1 μg L^-1 BPA was 5.0% (RSD, n = 11). The proposed aptasensor was applied for the determination of released BPA from food packaging materials. The results showed that photoaging and heating significantly increased the release of BPA from packaging materials to water, posing a significant toxicity risk to humans. The proposed aptasensor has potential extension in analyzing other kinds of analytes by simply replacing the aptamer and cDNA, providing a highly sensitive and selective autofluorescence-free platform for sensing hazardous analytes.