Photonic Crystal-Enhanced Fluorescence Response of MOFs for the Detection of Metabolism-Related Molecules

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and glucose serve as coupled molecular hubs in energy transductions, functioning as the primary energy currency and fundamental carbon substrate, respectively. However, distinguishing and quantifying ATP and glucose in sweat presents significant challenges for current analytical techniques. Herein, we report an efficient method for visualizing and quantifying ATP and glucose content at various concentration levels using fluorescent detection. This method utilizes a customized ZIF-90 (SRB&GOx@ZIF-90) that reacts with ATP and glucose to produce fluorescence at distinct emission wavelengths. The peaks of these waves exhibit a linear dependence on the concentrations of ATP and glucose, respectively. The MOFs react rapidly and quantitatively with ATP and glucose to exhibit good stability, maintaining a stable fluorescence response across the sweat pH range. Moreover, incorporating photonic crystals (PCs) significantly amplifies the fluorescent intensity of the reaction, enabling ultrasensitive detection. The high performance of this method offers a novel approach for identifying abnormally elevated ATP and glucose levels in metabolism-related diseases. By combining band gap-matched photonic crystals with reactive SRB&GOx@ZIF-90, this approach achieves simultaneous, accurate, and precise detection of ATP and glucose levels without interference from similar substances or background signals.