Imidazole metal-organic frameworks embedded in layered Ti3C2Tx Mxene as a high-performance electrochemiluminescence biosensor for sensitive detection of HIV-1 protein

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is still a significant global health concern. Hence, developing a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of HIV is important in early detection. In this paper, we focus on the preparation of a sensitive electrochemical luminescence (ECL) biosensor that uses Ti3C2Tx modified ZIF-8 as an ECL emitter to detect HIV-1 protein. This ECL biosensor used 0.05 M K2S2O8 as the co-reactant and conductive carbon black combined with magnetic nanoparticles as the quenching agent. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the relationship was linear in the range from 1 fM to 1 nM (R-2 = 0.993) and the detection limit was 0.3 fM (S/N = 3). Finally, we used the constructed Ti3C2Tx/ZIF-8 nanocomposites to detect HIV-1 in real serum samples and obtained great recoveries. The results demonstrated that this biosensor, which not only exhibited improved electrical conductivity but also demonstrated an excellent ECL response, could be a promising candidate for HIV-1 detection.