An ultrasensitive ratiometric aptasensor based on the dual-potential electrochemiluminescence of Ru(bpy)32+ in a novel ternary system for detection of Patulin in fruit products

To sensitively monitor trace-level of toxic patulin (PAT), an ultrasensitive PAT ratiometric aptasensor based on the dual-potential electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of Ru(bpy)32+ was first proposed. Noteworthily, Ru(bpy)32+-doped trimetallic nanocube (Ru@Tri) innovatively integrated the luminophore and cathode coreaction accelerator (CCA), which could generate strong cathodic ECL in the existence of low concentration of K2S2O8. Simultaneously, anthocyanin-derived carbon quantum dots (anth-CQDs) prepared from purple potato skins was first served as a green anodic coreactant. And SiO2-coated anth-CQDs (anth-CQDs@SiO2) exhibited excellent performance for enhancing anodic ECL of Ru@Tri. Based on this, a novel ternary ECL system was established. In the presence of PAT, the ECL intensity ratio of anode to cathode (IECL-A/IECL-C) was significantly increased, and a low detection limit of 0.05 pg mL−1 was obtained. Moreover, when proposed method and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were simultaneously applied to series of fruit products, the obtained results were completely consistent, reflecting its practicability.