A fluorometric sandwich biosensor based on molecular imprinted polymer and aptamer modified CdTe/ZnS for detection of aflatoxin B1 in edible oil

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a toxic metabolite produced by fungi with substantial environmental and health concerns. Thus, the detection of AFB1 has attracted increasing attention. In this study, a fluorometric sandwich biosensor was developed for the detection of AFB1, which was prepared by combining molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) with an aptamer. Porous carbon (PC) generated by the carbonization of ZIF-8 provided abundant sites for the MIP layer to achieve high-performance recognition of AFB1. The aptamer-modified CdTe/ZnS achieved efficient sandwich analysis of AFB1 as a signal probe. The sandwich biosensor exhibited excellent selectivity and high sensitivity with a dynamic linear range of 0.01–20 ng/mL and good reliability in spiked edible oil samples as low as 4.0 pg/mL. In sum, the developed sandwich biosensor is promising for the detection of AFB1 in food and the environment, with great potential in the control of other challenging food hazards.