Highly fluorescent hollow ZrO2@CdTe nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized efficiently via the hydrothermal method. By changing the hydrothermal time of ZrO2@CdTe NP, the peaks of fluorescence spectra measured at fluorescent excitation of 330 nm were at 540 nm, 590 nm, and 640 nm, respectively. Hollow ZrO2 NPs have a uniform core-shell structure with the size of 178 ± 10 nm and shell of 19 ± 4 nm. The as-prepared yellow-ZrO2@CdTe NPs were used to develop lateral flow assay (LFA) for the sensitive and qualitative detection of C-reactive protein (CRP). The visual limit of detection of the LFA for the CRP antigen was 1 μg/L within 20 min, which is 1000-fold lower than that of colloidal gold-based LFA. In addition, a multiplex lateral flow assay (mLFA) was developed using the as-prepared green and red-ZrO2@CdTe NPs for the simultaneous, specific, sensitive, and qualitative detection of CRP and troponin T (cTnT). The visual limits of detection of CRP and cTnT in mLFA were 10 μg/L and 0.1 mg/L, respectively. The excellent performance of ZrO2@CdTe NPs should facilitate their application in point-of-care technology for the detection of other biomarkers.
Keywords: Cardiac biomarkers; Fluorescence detection; Lateral flow assay; Multiple detection; ZrO2@CdTe nanoparticles.