Smartphone-Assisted Robust Sensing Platform for On-Site Quantitation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid Using Red Emissive Carbon Dots

On-site quantitative analysis of pesticide is of significant importance for addressing serious public health issues in clinical, food, and environmental settings. Herein, we designed a novel smartphone-assisted sensing platform for on-site monitoring of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) based on carbon dots/cobalt oxyhydroxide nanosheet (CDs/CoOOH) composite. In this work, a red emissive CDs/CoOOH composite was proposed as a signal indicator for shielding background interference, enhancing anti-interference capability. 2,4-D as an inhibitor of alkaline phosphatase could specifically suppress the production of ascorbic acid, which restrained in situ etching of the CDs/CoOOH composite and further triggered the fluorescence response of the biosensor. By employing a lab-on-smartphone based device and self-designed application software, the fluorescence image was directly captured and analyzed with a sensitive detection limit of 100 μg L–1 for 2,4-D. Merging the CDs/CoOOH composite-based fluorometric system with the smartphone-assisted optical reader, such a cost-effective and portable platform provided a new sight for on-site monitoring of pesticide and expanded application prospect in the field of biological analysis.