Synthesis of Au@Ru-ZnMOF nanocomposites for electrochemiluminescence detecting bisphenol A in thermal paper samples

The environmental hazards posed by bisphenol A (BPA) have become a critical global concern. Consequently, the development of rapid, user-friendly, and highly sensitive methods for BPA detection is essential for pollution control and health risk assessment. In this study, a novel electrochemiluminescent (ECL) sensor was designed using Ru(bpy) 3 2+ -encapsulated Zn-based metal–organic frameworks (Ru-ZnMOF) integrated with gold nanoparticles (Au@Ru-ZnMOF) as efficient ECL probes. Notably, BPA caused a significant quenching effect on the ECL signal of Au@Ru-ZnMOF in the presence of tripropylamine (TPA) as a coreactant. Under optimized experimental conditions, a glassy carbon electrode modified with Au@Ru-ZnMOF (glassy carbon electrode (GCE/Au@Ru-ZnMOF) demonstrated exceptional ECL performance for BPA detection, with a broad linear detection range (1.0 × 10 −9 to 5.0 × 10 −4  mol·L −1 ) and an ultra-low detection limit of 2.5 × 10 −11  mol·L −1 . The proposed sensor was successfully applied for the quantification of BPA in thermal paper samples, achieving recovery rates between 95.8 % and 98.5 %, confirming its high accuracy and reliability.