Colorimetric detection of melamine in milk by using gold nanoparticles-based LSPR via optical fibers

PLoS One. 2017 May 5;12(5):e0177131. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177131. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

A biosensing system with optical fibers is proposed for the colorimetric detection of melamine in liquid milk samples by using the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The biosensing system consists of a broadband light source that covers the spectral range from 200 nm to 1700 nm, an optical attenuator, three types of 600 μm premium optical fibers with SMA905 connectors and a miniature spectrometer with a linear charge coupled device (CCD) array. The biosensing system with optical fibers is low-cost, simple and is well-proven for the detection of melamine. Its working principle is based on the color changes of AuNPs solution from wine-red to blue due to the inter-particle coupling effect that causes the shifts of wavelength and absorbance in LSPR band after the to-be-measured melamine samples were added. Under the optimized conditions, the detection response of the LSPR biosensing system was found to be linear in melamine detection in the concentration range from 0μM to 0.9 μM with a correlation coefficient (R2) 0.99 and a detection limit 33 nM. The experimental results obtained from the established LSPR biosensing system in the actual detection of melamine concentration in liquid milk samples show that this technique is highly specific and sensitive and would have a huge application prospects.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Colorimetry / methods*
  • Food Contamination / analysis*
  • Gold*
  • Metal Nanoparticles*
  • Milk / chemistry*
  • Optical Fibers
  • Triazines / analysis*

Substances

  • Triazines
  • Gold
  • melamine

Grants and funding

The financial support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671581), Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (162300410143), Henan Province Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomass Energy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science Funding (SKL2014ZH-06, 39990026), Project 948 of the Ministry of Agriculture of China (2015-Z45), Fujian Province Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (2015J06015), and the Zhengzhou Science and Technology Program (141PPTGG405).