Label-free fluorescence turn-on aptasensor for prostate-specific antigen sensing based on aggregation-induced emission–silica nanospheres

Fluorescent light-up probes based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active molecules have recently attracted great research interest due to the intelligent fluorescence activation mechanism and high sensitivity. In this work, an AIE-silica nanosphere (SiO 2 NP)-based label-free fluorescent aptasensor for the sensitive “turn-on” detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is reported for the first time. The positively charged amino-functionalized SiO 2 NPs were used as efficient nanocapturer to electrostatically adsorb single-stranded PSA aptamer (PA) to form SiO 2 NP-PA nanocomposite as well as adsorb negatively charged tetraphenylethylene derivative 3 (TPE3) to form AIE-SiO 2 NP nanocomposite. The binding of the aptamer to the target PSA could induce a rigid aptamer conformation, resulting in the release of the PA away from the surface of SiO 2 NPs. This made the AIE molecules TPE3 aggregate on the SiO 2 NP surface and emit high fluorescence. With the advantages of simple design and rapid responses, the proposed aptasensor showed high sensitivity and selectivity for PSA with a detection limit of 0.5 ng/mL. The aptasensor was further applied in human serum samples with satisfactory results. Given its versatility, high selectivity, and sensitivity, the proposed method could be extended to other targets by varying the recognition probes. Graphical abstract An AIE-SiO 2 NP-based label-free fluorescent aptasensor for the sensitive “turn-on” detection of PSA is reported for the first time