Molecularly imprinted polymer based hybrid structure SiO2@MPS-CdTe/CdS: a novel fluorescence probe for hepatitis A virus.

A novel designed fluorescence molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) probe made from CdTe/CdS quantum dot (QD)-based silica nanoparticles (SiO2@MPS-CdTe/CdS) was successfully created via a sol-gel process. The target virus - hepatitis A virus (HAV) was selectively captured by imprinted polymer layer, resulting in the fluorescence quenching of the QDs within 20 min, which could be explained by the energy transfer mechanism. Under optimized conditions, the limit of detection for the SiO2@MPS-CdTe/CdS MIP was as low as 88 pmol · L-1, and excellent linearity was obtained from 0.2 to 1.4 nM. Additionally, the nanosensor was successfully used to detect the HAV from a dilution of human serum, in which recoveries were in the range of 96.7%-103.8%. Overall, the current work proposes a novel and cost-effective method to synthesize SiO2@MPS-CdTe/CdS MIPs for use as a tool to rapidly and efficiently detect HAV, and it also provides promising perspectives to further advance virus imprinting research.