Detection of Mercury Ions Using Graphene Oxide Sensors Assisted by Ag@SiO2

DNA sequences containing a polycytosine (Poly-C) can be strongly adsorbed on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) to enhance the physical adsorption between GO and DNA. Hg 2+ can specifically bind to single-stranded DNA sequence with thiophosphate cleavage site (PS), and fluorescence is restored according to the principle of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The LOD of Poly-C PS 1 site sensor was 1.11 nM. The LOD of Poly-C PS 2 sites sensor was 0.84 nM. In order to improve the detection signal of Hg 2+ , the ultra-thin silica shell (SiO 2 ) was covered with metal nanomaterial Ag (Ag@SiO 2 ), which improved the stability and the sensitivity of biosensors. The LOD of the two sensors decreased to 0.36 nM and 0.15 nM, respectively. This sensor was also used for Hg 2+ detection in dendrobium.This shows that the method is promising.