Tingting Han

Zearalenone (ZEN) contamination in grains poses a serious threat to human and animal health, yet existing imaging-based platforms for rapid visualized detection remain limited by insufficient sensitivity, limited luminescence efficiency, and poor signal stability, hindering further practical applications. Herein, a portable smartphone-assisted electrochemiluminescence (ECL) imaging platform was developed for ultrasensitive and visualized detection of ZEN based on protamine-enhanced 6-aza-2-thiothymine-stabilized gold nanoclusters (Prot/ATT-Au NCs) synthesized by a protein-assisted assembly strategy. The resulting Prot/ATT-Au NCs achieved a 108-fold enhancement in ECL intensity relative to bare ATT-Au NCs and demonstrated an ECL efficiency approximately 5.01-fold higher than that of the benchmark Ru(bpy)32+ system, enabling naked-eye-visible green ECL emission. This enhancement was attributed to Prot-induced hydrogen-bonding and electrostatic confinement that suppressed nonradiative decay and facilitated radiative transitions. Integrated with catalytic hairpin assembly amplification, the developed ECL imaging system allowed ZEN to be visually quantified over a wide linear range of 1 pg/mL to 10 μg/mL with a detection limit of 0.38 pg/mL, along with excellent specificity, stability, reproducibility, and real-sample recoveries. Furthermore, it was applied for the determination of ZEN in naturally contaminated corn samples. This work provides a facile strategy for engineering high-performance ECL emitters and offers a robust route toward portable food safety monitoring.

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) are widely used agrochemicals that pose health risks through irreversible acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition, necessitating reliable detection. Herein, we report an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor based on Pd–Pt nanoflowers (Pd–Pt NFs) for diazinon detection, powered by oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Driven by galvanic replacement, cubic Pd templates evolve into Pd@Pt nanodendrites and finally fully alloyed Pd–Pt NFs. Benefiting from the nanoflower geometry and the ligand effect-modulated Pt d-band center, the catalyst delivers exceptional ORR activity. On this basis, an ORR-mediated ECL signal transduction strategy is proposed. Diazinon inhibits AChE, reducing thiocholine (TCh) generation from acetylthiocholine (ATCh); the thiol-bearing TCh selectively poisons ORR-active sites of Pd–Pt NFs, quenching the ECL signal in a concentration-dependent manner. Experimental and theoretical results verify the strong TCh adsorption affinity on the Pd–Pt alloy surface. The biosensor achieves a detection limit of 2.7 pg mL–1 toward diazinon, alongside favorable selectivity, reproducibility, and reliable recoveries in real samples. Moreover, the platform was extended to flexible hydrogel-integrated electrodes for in situ cleaning and degradation monitoring. This work demonstrates that galvanic replacement-tuned Pd–Pt NFs, coupling ORR catalysis with coreactant-free ECL, offer a versatile strategy for OPs biosensing.

Atomically Precise Gold Nanoclusters (AP-AuNCs) have emerged as cutting-edge nanomaterials in the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) realm due to their atomically precise structures, quantum confinement effect, and superior biocompatibility. This review systematically summarizes the recent advancements of AP-AuNCs in ECL. First, the fundamental ECL mechanisms are elucidated from a molecular orbital perspective, rooted in the “core-ligand shell” hierarchical structure and superatomic electronic nature of AP-AuNCs. Subsequently, precision modulation strategies for tuning their ECL performances, such as gold core structural regulation, bimetallic doping, ligand engineering, valence state engineering, aggregation-induced ECL, and system energy level matching, are comprehensively presented. Furthermore, the current application landscape in biomedicine, environmental monitoring, and food safety is evaluated. Finally, the future challenges and developmental prospects of this field are also discussed. This review aims to provide a systematic theoretical reference and innovative insights for the atomic-level design of high-performance AP-AuNCs-based ECL systems, facilitating their transitions toward practical application scenarios.

Light‐responsive nanozymes, integrating photophysical processes with biocatalytic functions, have advanced the field of artificial catalysis. By introducing precise optical switches, these nanosystems effectively overcome the inherent limitations of traditional nanozymes, such as slow kinetics and strict environmental dependencies. This review first analyzes the photophysical enhancement mechanisms of light‐responsive nanozymes, including the photothermal effect, photogenerated charge transfer (CT), and energy transfer (ET). Subsequently, the latest advances in their material design and classification are summarized, with a specific focus on 0D nanomaterials, porous framework materials, single‐atom catalysts (SACs), and heterojunction nanocomposites. Ultimately, we present their applications across environmental protection, food safety, and biomedicine, while providing an outlook on the future challenges and prospects of this field.

The widespread use of organophosphate pesticides (OPs) critically endangers food safety and environmental health, necessitating highly sensitive detection strategies. Herein, we report a d-band modulated Au@RuPt core-shell nanozyme for ultrasensitive OP detection via an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) inhibition mechanism. The Au@RuPt nanodots (RuPt shell ∼1.02 nm on Au core ∼3.08 nm) exhibit enhanced ORR activity (Tafel slope: 49.89 mV dec^-1) with a dominant four-electron pathway. Mechanistic studies reveal that Ru incorporation upshifts the d-band center, promoting thiocholine (TCh) chemisorption and consequent ORR poisoning. The biosensing mechanism relies on TCh-induced ORR inhibition and its recovery upon OP-mediated acetylcholinesterase inactivation, enabling a "signal-on" readout. The sensor exhibits a detection limit of 0.0264 ng mL^-1 toward phoxim, alongside excellent specificity, reproducibility (RSD < 1.62%), stability (>94.6% after 30 days), and real-sample recoveries (96.3-104.6%). It also enables in situ pesticide monitoring on plant leaves and AChE activity evaluation with IC₅₀ quantification for multiple OPs. This work establishes an alloy nanozyme platform for ORR-based electrochemical biosensing, opening new avenues for point-of-need applications in agricultural safety, toxicology, and clinical diagnostics.

Reliable authentication of high-value edible oils remains challenging when adulterants are unknown and sample heterogeneity affects model robustness. In this study, gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) fingerprinting was integrated with an origin-assisted one-class chemometric strategy for non-targeted authentication of camellia oil (CAO) adulteration. Volatile organic compound fingerprints of authentic CAO from seven geographical origins and their adulterated samples were systematically characterized. A two-step framework was developed in which geographical origin was first identified using PLS-DA, followed by origin-specific adulteration authentication using one-class classification algorithms (DD-SIMCA and OC-PLS). This strategy reduced origin-induced variability and improves model reliability compared with conventional one-step modeling. DD-SIMCA achieved authentication accuracies above 94% across all adulteration systems and showed strong sensitivity to low-level adulteration. In addition, PLS regression enabled accurate quantification of adulteration levels for four edible oils (R_p² > 0.96, RPD > 4). These results demonstrate that GC-IMS fingerprinting combined with origin-assisted one-class chemometric modeling provides a rapid, reliable, and non-targeted analytical framework for edible oil authentication, with good potential for extension to other high-value oils.

GC-IMS combined with chemometric algorithms enables accurate identification of the geographical origin of camellia oil at both provincial and city levels, providing reliable technical support for geographical indication protection.