Space-Confinment-Enhanced Fluorescence Detection of DNA on Hydrogel Particles Array

Fluorescent biosensors have been widely applied in DNA detection because of their reliability and reproducibility. However, low kinetics in DNA hybridization often brings out long test terms, thus restricting their practical use. Here, we demonstrate unexpected fast DNA fluorescence detection on the confined surface of hydrogel particles. When the pore size and surface charge of hydrogel particles are tailored, DNA molecules can be confined in the outer water layer of hydrogel particles. We fabricated a fluorescence-on DNA sensor based on the hydrogel particle array by utilizing the fluorescence quenching property of graphene oxide and its different adsorption behaviors toward single-strand DNA or double-strand DNA. Benefiting from the confinement effect of hydrogel particle surface and the enrichment effect of water evaporation, the DNA-recognition time was descreased significantly from 3000 s to less than 10 s under the target concentration of 400 nM. Moreover, rapid detection can be achieved at concentrations between 50 and 400 nM. The study provides another insight to fabricate fast biosensors and shows great potential in DNA diagnostics, gene analysis, and liquid biopsy.