A molecularly imprinted photopolymer based on mesh TpPa-2 embedded with perovskite CsPbBr3 quantum dots for the sensitive solid fluorescence sensing of patulin in apple products

•TpPa-2 improved imprinting effect and fluorescence stability of CQ-MIPs.•CQ-MIPs exhibited fast recognition and specificity for PAT.•CQ-MIPs sensor showed good repeatability and sensitivity.•CQ-MIPs was applied to detection of PAT in apple products and confirmed by HPLC.•The sensor is convenient, fast and needs tiny amount of samples detected. Here, a novel molecularly imprinted photopolymer was prepared using CsPbBr3 quantum dots as the fluorescence source, TpPa-2 as substrate for selective solid fluorescence detection of patulin (PAT). TpPa-2 can promote efficient recognition of PAT due to its unique structure and significantly improve the fluorescence stability and sensitivity. The test results showed that the photopolymer exhibited large adsorption capacity (131.75 mg/g), fast adsorption ability (12 mins), superior reusability and high selectivity. The sensor proposed had good linearity for PAT in the range of 0.2–20 ng/mL and was applied to the analysis of PAT in apple juice and apple jam with a limit of detection as low as 0.027 ng/mL. Therefore it maybe a promising method for solid fluorescence detection of trace PAT in food analysis.