A facile label-free colorimetric aptasensor for acetamiprid based on the peroxidase-like activity of hemin-functionalized reduced graphene oxide

• A facile aptasensor has been developed for the colorimetric detection of acetamiprid.
• Aptamer without any chemical modifications is employed as the recognition element.
• The acetamiprid content can be judged by the naked eyes or the UV–vis spectrometer.
• The sensor has a lower detection limit than that of the reported (HP)LC method.
• This work provides a universal strategy for aptamer-based colorimetric biosensor.

A facile aptasensor has been developed for the colorimetric detection of acetamiprid by using the hemin-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (hemin-rGO) composites. The as-prepared hemin-rGO composites possessed both the ability of rGO to physically adsorb the aptamers and the peroxidase-like activity of hemin that could catalyse 3,3,5,5-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of H2O2, to produce a solution with blue color. The well-dispersed hemin-rGO composites coagulated completely at the proper salt concentration; however, the coagulation of hemin-rGO was vanished when abundant aptamers were adsorbed on its surface because the attached negatively charged DNA backbone increased individual hemin-rGO electrostatic repulsion. In the detection scheme, acetamiprid with different concentrations was firstly incubated with the same amount of aptamer. The more acetamiprid in the tested solution, the less free aptamers were absorbed on the hemin-rGO surface, making the composites coagulate to a higher degree in the presence of the optimum NaCl concentration. As a consequence, the content of hemin-rGO in the supernatant was decreased after centrifugation, which catalysed oxidation of TMB in the presence of H2O2 to produce light blue color with a low absorbance. The color variation relavant to the acetamiprid concentration can be judged by the naked eyes and easily monitored by the inexpensive UV–vis spectrometer. Such designed aptasensor displayed a linear response for acetamiprid in the range from 100 nM to 10 μM with a detection limit of 40 nM (S/N=3). This colorimetric aptasensing platform offers great advantages including the simple operation process, low-cost portable instrument, and user-friendly applications.