Fluorescent quenching immune chromatographic strips with quantum dots and upconversion nanoparticles as fluorescent donors for visual detection of sulfaquinoxaline in foods of animal origin

•Two novel FQICS based on FRET were developed for the first time.•QDs and UCNPs were used as fluorescent donors in the FQICS.•The proposed FQICS showed low LOD compared with traditional ICS.•The proposed FQICS were applied in real samples analysis.•The proposed FQICS were verified by commercial ELISA kits.

In this study, two novel fluorescence quenching immune chromatographic strips (FQICS) were developed to detect sulfaquinoxaline (SQX) in foods of animal origin. These proposed FQICSs were based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from fluorescence donors (quantum dots or upconversion nanoparticles) to fluorescence acceptors (colloidal gold nanoparticles). Compared with traditional colloidal gold-based immune chromatographic strips (ICS), these FQICSs showed positive correlation between the fluorescent signals and the targets, and allowed user to get test results from weak fluorescent signals. The visual detection limits of these two FQICSs were both 1 ng mL−1 in standard solution and 8 μg kg−1 in samples, while the visual detection limit of the colloidal gold-based ICS was 10 ng mL−1 in standard solution and 80 μg kg−1 in samples. Besides, the results we obtained by the use of FQICS showed high agreement with those obtained by the use of commercial ELISA kits, indicating the good accuracy of these strips. As a conclusion, these proposed FQICS based on quantum dots and upconversion nanoparticles can be applied in sensitive, rapid and on-site detection of SQX in foods of animal origin.

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