A smartphone-compatible AIE fluorescent probe for benzoyl peroxide detection and fingerprint imaging

Benzoyl peroxide (BPO), a banned but illegally used flour additive, poses serious health risks. Current detection methods face challenges in on-site applications due to instrument dependency and complexity. We developed an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorescent probe ( NMYF ) for rapid, selective, and visual BPO detection. NMYF exhibits fast fluorescence quenching (<1 min), a low detection limit (0.91 μM), and high selectivity. Integrated into polyamide films and agarose gels, NMYF enables portable sensing platforms. Using smartphone-based RGB analysis, on-site BPO quantification was achieved with detection limits of 66.9 μM ( NMYF -films) and 7.09 μM ( NMYF -gels). NMYF -gels successfully detected BPO in wheat flour, noodles, and noodle sheets, with recoveries of 93.08–116.12% and RSDs below 8.75%. In addition, NMYF performed excellently on various substrates in latent fingerprint imaging, displaying Level 1–3 fingerprint details with high clarity. The bifunctionality of NMYF highlights its potential in both food safety and forensic science.