Construction of electrochemiluminescence aptasensor for acetamiprid detection using flower-liked SnO2 nanocrystals encapsulated Ag3PO4 composite as luminophore

Acetamiprid is a kind of broad-spectrum pesticides that has been largely applied in agriculture and household pest control. In this paper, a simple, novel and highly sensitive electrochemiluminescence aptamer sensor (ECL aptasensor) based on Ag 3 PO 4 -NH 2 -SnO 2 was proposed. The ECL signal was greatly amplified with the synergistic effect of Ag 3 PO 4 and NH 2 -SnO 2 (Ag 3 PO 4 -NH 2 -SnO 2 ) which was dropped on a glass carbon electrode (GCE) and used as working electrode. We designed an “on–off” ECL sensing strategy for the sensitive and specific detection of acetamiprid. Under the optimal conditions, the linear range of the sensor for acetamiprid detection was 1.0 × 10 −11  ∼ 1.0 × 10 −5 M, with a detection limit of 2.5 × 10 −12 M (S/N = 3). The method showed simple and fast operation, high sensitivity and selectivity, strong anti-interference ability and good stability. More importantly, the developed aptasensor exhibited excellent recognition ability towards residual acetamiprid in actual water samples, which might open promising avenues to develop new ECL systems for biological analysis and environmental water monitoring.