Photothermal visual sensing of alkaline phosphatase based on the etching of Au@MnO2 core-shell nanoparticles

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), as a crucial enzyme involved in many physiological activities, is always used as one of the significant biomarkers in clinical diagnosis. Herein, a novel, simple, and effective photothermal quantitative method based on the etching of MnO 2 -coated gold nanoparticles ( [email protected] 2 NPs) was established for ALP activity assay with a household thermometer-based visual readout. The photothermal effect of [email protected] 2 NPs is much higher than that of MnO 2 NPs or Au NPs. The MnO 2 shell of [email protected] 2 NPs can be etched by ascorbic acid , a product of ALP-catalyzed hydrolysis of 2-phospho- l -ascorbic acid. With the etching of [email protected] 2 NPs, the photothermal conversion efficiency decreased gradually, causing the decrease of the temperature increment of the solutions by degrees. A household thermometer, instead of large-scale and professional instruments, was used as a signal reader to realize the visual quantitative detection. The photothermal platform was used successfully for the determination of ALP with a wide linear range from 2.0 to 50 U/L and a detection limit as low as 0.75 U/L. Moreover, the inhibition efficiency of sodium vanadate for ALP activity was investigated, proving the photothermal quantitative method will be a potential platform for screening enzyme inhibitors . Such a sensitive, facile, and low-cost sensing assay provides a new prospect to develop platforms for point-of-care testing.