A novel color-coded sensor array for visual recognition and traceability investigation of multiple antibiotics

To combat the serious environmental menace originating from over-consumption of antibiotics in human therapy and farming industry, studies have been devoted to developing diverse technologies for antibiotics monitoring. Herein, a novel color-coded array was constructed by Ln-MOF (Ln = Eu, Tb, and Gd) fluorescent carriers for qualitative and quantitative analyses of antibiotics based on a cross-responsive mechanism. The distinct morphology identification of 10 nitro-antibiotics was obtained after processing by linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and concentration distributions were assessed within a range of 0-12 ppm (the detection limits all as low as ppb). Aid by the proposed array, the spiked antibiotics in lake water were successfully determined with a satisfactory recovery of 90.8%-110.8%. Notably, unknown speciation and concentration of multiple antibiotics in specific water samples can be determined, which further confirmed its admirable traceability. This research opens up a possibility to monitor environmental behavior and toxicology studies of antibiotics. • A sensor array was constructed by 7 fluorescence channels of Gd/Eu/Tb-based MOF. • Array can simultaneously detect 10 antibiotics based on a cross-response mechanism. • Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 10 antibiotics were realized by the array. • The array enables rapid traceability of multiple antibiotics in real water.