Converting commonly-used paper into nano-engineered fluorescent biomass-based platform for rapid ClO− quantitative detection in living cells and water sources

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) and derivative ionic form (ClO-) are significant components of reactive oxygen species, and thus various diseases are correlatively related to the concentration of ClO-. Recently, paper-based indicators have been confirmed to be efficient strategy for sensing hazardous and noxious substances. However, most of these materials can only achieve qualitative detection of the substrates. Herein, an extremely simple manufacturing strategy was proposed to convert commonly-used paper into nano-engineered fluorescent biomass-based platform (CMJL-FP) integrated with on-demand self-assembled colorimetric and ratiometric fluorescence sensor (CMJL) for rapid ClO- quantitative detection in organisms or water sources using smartphones. The CMJL exhibited a highly selective and sensitive ratiometric response to ClO- at a low detection limit (LOD = 92.6 nM). The associating interactions between the fluorescence nano-particles and micro-nano fibers of CMJL-FP ensure good-stability during ClO- detection. It has been experimentally demonstrated that CMJL-FP allows one to realize the rapid quantitative detection of ClO- ions in living cells and large-scale water sources by using color recognition software as part of a simple smartphone. Therefore, integrating the proposed fluorescent paper with smartphones provides an effective, sustainable, cheap and conceptual strategy for quantitative detection of hazardous and noxious substances in organisms and environments.