Enhanced electrochemiluminescence of CdS quantum dots capped with mercaptopropionic acid activated by EDC for Zika virus detection

Enhanced electrochemiluminescence (ECL) signals of CdS quantum dots capped with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA@CdS QDs) have been observed after using N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N′-ethylcarbodiimide (EDC) to activate the carboxyl groups. The generated ECL signals are strong enough that their images can be captured using a Huawei mobile phone. A possible mechanism for the generation of enhanced ECL signals has been proposed. Then, a sandwich immunosensor platform for detecting Zika virus (ZIKV) was fabricated with silica microspheres as the carrier and MPA@CdS QDs as ECL signal labels. Due to the dual signal amplification of EDC activation and microsphere enrichment, good linearity from 1.0 fg mL−1 to 1.0 ng mL−1 was exhibited by the QD-based ECL immunosensor for ZIKV detection. The detection limit was 0.3 fg mL−1.