Nylon 6–Gold Nanoparticle Composite Fibers for Colorimetric Detection of Urinary 1-Hydroxypyrene

A one-step in situ synthesis of nylon 6 nanofibers filled with gold nanoparticles for the colorimetric probe of 1-hydroxypyrene, a biomarker associated with the largest class of cancer-causing chemical compounds polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is proposed in this study. The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were successfully embedded on the surface of the nylon 6 fibers where the gold particles were chemisorbed onto the amide groups in the nylon 6 backbones. By electrospinning the nylon 6/gold nanocomposite, the gold nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on the polymer fibers to give a photostable reddish white fiber which turned purple/blue when brought in contact with a standard solution of the biomarker. The TEM revealed the formation of spherical AuNPs with an average diameter of 8 nm well arrayed within the nanofibers, but no significant change in the morphology of the nanofibers was observed. The thermal properties of the composite fibers were greatly improved compared to the electrospun nylon 6 fiber. The developed method described herein is simple, effective, requires no post-treatments, and is highly sensitive (100 ng/ml) hence the nanocomposite fibers can be employed as a test strip for the colorimetric detection of 1-hydroxypyrene in human urine or other diagnostic probe biosensors.