Undoped zinc gallogermanate nanoparticles based persistent luminescence aptasensor for the determination of bisphenol a in aquatic products

Bisphenol A (BPA) poses significant health risks, so its selective and sensitive determination in food is crucial. Here, we report a “turn-on” persistent luminescence aptasensor using undoped zinc gallogermanate nanoparticles (ZGGO) for selective and sensitive BPA determination in aquatic products. The sensor consists of a BPA-specific aptamer-grafted ZGGO (donor) hybridized with Cy3-labeled complementary DNA (acceptor). The persistent luminescence of the aptasensor is quenched via resonance energy transfer to the acceptor in the absence of BPA, and recovered in the presence of BPA due to the competitive binding of BPA with the aptamer to release cDNA-Cy3. This design effectively eliminates autofluorescence and background interference, enhancing sensitivity and selectivity. The aptasensor gives a wide linear range (1–1000 ng L −1 ), low detection limit (0.27 ng L −1 ), high selectivity, and good precision. Spike-recovery tests in fish samples yield the recovery of 85.2%–101.6%, proving its potential for monitoring BPA in complex food matrices.