Abstract
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•Fabrication of Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite as novel fluorescence quencher probes.•Improving optical and electrical properties of Ti-Zn nanocomposite oxide through silver doping.•Design of a fluorescence quenching based immunoassay using Rhodamine B and Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite.•Application of new immunoassay for highly sensitive and selective detection of MUC1.
Synthesis of novel nanomaterials with fluorescence or quenching properties is a key factor for development of fluorescent-based assays as one the most widely used detection methods. In the present study, Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite as a new class of zinc-based nanocomposites with fluorescence quenching property was developed for the detection of Mucin 1 (MUC1). Prepared nanocomposite was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. In the absence of target MUC1, Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite was able to quench fluorescence of Rhodamine-B (RhB) dye while they were in close proximity of each other. The addition of MUC1 antibody to the RhB/Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite system further decreased fluorescence intensity of RhB. Specific binding of the MUC1 to antibody induced precipitation of nanocomposite and recovered fluorescence of RhB. Under optimized conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) for MUC1 was as low as 0.02 U/mL with linear detection rage from 0.05 to 3 U/ mL. The method was very sensitive, selective and simple for the detection of MUC1. The results exhibited that Ag-Ti-Zn nanocomposite can be used as a common quencher and sensing platform to design highly sensitive fluorescent-based assays.