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. 2018 Sep 17;10(5):1415–1426. doi: 10.1007/s12551-018-0457-9

Table 3.

Lead biosensors. Receptor molecules are listed in column one. Lead detection limits of each sensor with the linear range in parenthesis (if known) are listed in column two

Ion-selective receptor molecule Detection limit (linear range) Sensor mechanism References
GR-5 DNAzyme 0.9 pM (2–1000 pM) Electrochemiluminescence using the GR-5 lead-dependent DNAzyme and Pb-induced release of ruthenium tris (1,10-phenanthroline) (Ru(phen)32þ) Gao et al. 2013
CNTs 1.2 pM Colorimetric and electrochemical microfluidic paper-based analytical devices using screen-printing multi-walled CNTs Rattanarat et al. 2014
Porous magnesium oxide nano-flowers 2.1 pM (3.3–22 nM) Porous magnesium oxide nano-flowers sensitive electrode monitoring using square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry Wei et al. 2012
DNAzymes and CdS QDs modified ssDNA 7.8 pM Biosensor based on DNAzyme, rolling circle amplification (RCA) and CdS QDs modified ssDNA Tang et al. 2013
Self-doped polyaniline nanofibers 0.2 nM (5–80 nM) Square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry using glassy carbon electrode modified with self-doped polyaniline nanofibers/mesoporous carbon nitride (and bismuth) Zhang et al. 2016a, b, c
CNTs 0.24 nM (0.48–106 nM) Differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry using glassy carbon electrode modified with Nafion, poly(2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes He et al. 2011
C18 silica monolith column 0.36 nM (0.24–24 μM) Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography Thirumalai et al. 2018
G-rich DNA 0.4 nM (1 nM–1 mM) Pb2+-induced G-rich DNA conformational switch from a random-coil to G-quadruplex (G4) with crystal violet as the G4-binding indicator Li et al. 2011a, b
Silica nanoparticles 0.48 nM (4.8–145 nM) Screen-printed carbon electrode modified with functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles Sánchez et al. 2010
Nano-structured polymer nanoparticles 0.6 nM (1.0 to 0.08 nM) Voltammetry using carbon-paste electrodes modified with nano-structured ion-imprinted polymer nanoparticles Alizadeh and Amjadi 2011
DNAzyme 0.5 nM (1 nM–1 μM) Amperometric sensing platform for detection of Pb-based on horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimicking DNAzyme-catalysed template-guided deposition of polyaniline (PANI) that catalysed the oxidation of anilineto PANI with H2O2 Li et al. 2013a, b
G-rich DNA with redox probe 0.5 nM Conformational switch from hairpin DNA to G-quadruplex induced by Pb2+ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in the presence of [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− as the redox probe Lin et al. 2011
Nano hydroxyapatite 1 nM Voltammetry using a nafion conductive matrix and a modified glassy carbon electrode for composed of nanosized hydroxyapatite coupled to an ionophore Pan et al. 2009
Bismuth nanoparticles 2.7 nM Nano composite of reduced graphene oxide–bismuth nanoparticles Sahoo et al. 2013
DNAzymes and SYBER Green I 5 nM (0–50 nM) Fluorescence based on DNAzyme activation and cDNA strang cleavage via an RNA site Ravikumar et al. 2017
Au NP-functionalized graphene 10 nM (50–1000 nM) Fluorescence using Au NP-functionalized graphene in the presence of both thiosulfate and 2-mercaptoethanol Fu et al. 2012
Graphene QDs and Au NPs 16.7 nM (50 nM–4 μM) Fluorescence using graphene QDs and Au NPs Niu et al. 2018
Phormidium sp. 25 nM (50 nM–20 μM) Voltammetry using non-immobilised whole cells Yüce et al. 2010
Whole-cell bacterial fluorescence 33 nM Staphylococcus aureus strain RN4220 and Bacillus subtilis strain BR151 employing the regulatory sequence from the cadA gene of plasmid pI258 Tauriainen et al. 1998
Fluorescence-labelled oligonucleotides 61 nM (0.1–1 μM) Fluorescence using a fluorescence-labelled aptamer from complex with a quencher-labelled short complementary sequence Chen et al. 2018
Gram-negative whole-cell bacteria 0.97 μM Plasmid-based whole-cell Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial biosensors using the PAO1(pBBpbrRgfp) genetic element Bereza-Malcolm et al. 2016
Anabaena torulosa 0.1 μM (0.5–5 μM) Whole-cell entrapment on cellulose membrane Wong et al. 2013
Au NPs 0.1 μM Surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERS) utilising 2-mercaptoisonicotinic acid-modified Au NPs Zamarion et al. 2008
DNAzyme 0.3 μM Electrochemical sensor based on 8–17 lead-dependent DNAzyme immobilised on a gold electrode Xiao et al. 2007
6-Carboxyfluorescein and Cy5 1 μM Visual detection using Au NPs, DNAzyme microparticles and 6-carboxyfluorescein and Cy5 Kim and Lee 2016
Graphene QDs 2 μM (30–100 μM) Fluorescent using unfolded fullerene QDs Ciotta et al. 2017

CNTs carbon nanotubes, Au NPs gold nanoparticles, ssDNA single-stranded DNA, QDs quantum dots