A visible light photoelectrochemical sandwich aptasensor for adenosine triphosphate based on MgIn2S4-TiO2 nanoarray heterojunction

This work designed a MgIn2S4-TiONA heterojunction by growing MgIn2S4 nanoplates on TiO2 nanowire array (TiONA) for preparation of visible light photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensing platform. The heterojunction exhibited strong absorption of visible light, large surface area and high loading of biomolecules, leading to high sensing sensitivity. Using adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a marker of cell vitality, as the target model, a PEC sandwich aptasensor was constructed by immobilizing capture DNA1 on MgIn2S4 surface. In the presence of ATP and signal DNA2 with terminal ferrocene as the electron donor, a sandwiched DNA1-ATP-DNA2 complex could be formed on the PEC aptasensor. The aptasensor showed excellent performance with a wide linear range from 50 fM to 100 nM and a detection limit of 20 fM. The sensing performance including specificity, reproducibility, stability and practical use were also evaluated, showing promising application of the MgIn2S4-TiONA heterojunction in PEC biosensing.