{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,6]],"date-time":"2026-05-06T01:11:40Z","timestamp":1778029900601,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,8]],"date-time":"2016-11-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1478563200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012166","name":"National key Research and development program of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2016YFD0500600"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2016YFD0500600"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012166","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Technology Research Program of Guangzhou City","award":["201508020100"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["201508020100"]}]},{"name":"Technology Research Program of Guangdong Province","award":["2013B010404027"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2013B010404027"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012541","name":"Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["201301S0105240297"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["201301S0105240297"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012541","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The detection of environmental mercury (Hg) contamination requires complex and expensive instruments and professional technicians. We present a simple, sensitive, and portable Hg2+ detection system based on a smartphone and colorimetric aptamer nanosensor. A smartphone equipped with a light meter app was used to detect, record, and process signals from a smartphone-based microwell reader (MR S-phone), which is composed of a simple light source and a miniaturized assay platform. The colorimetric readout of the aptamer nanosensor is based on a specific interaction between the selected aptamer and Hg2+, which leads to a color change in the reaction solution due to an aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The MR S-phone-based AuNPs-aptamer colorimetric sensor system could reliably detect Hg2+ in both tap water and Pearl River water samples and produced a linear colorimetric readout of Hg2+ concentration in the range of 1 ng\/mL\u201332 ng\/mL with a correlation of 0.991, and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.28 ng\/mL for Hg2+. The detection could be quickly completed in only 20 min. Our novel mercury detection assay is simple, rapid, and sensitive, and it provides new strategies for the on-site detection of mercury contamination in any environment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s16111871","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,8]],"date-time":"2016-11-08T09:58:26Z","timestamp":1478599106000},"page":"1871","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":67,"title":["A Portable Smart-Phone Readout Device for the Detection of Mercury Contamination Based on an Aptamer-Assay Nanosensor"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8103-6870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wei","family":"Xiao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Meng","family":"Xiao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qiangqiang","family":"Fu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shiting","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Haicong","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hongfen","family":"Bian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yong","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioengineering, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Molecular Immunology and Antibody Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"},{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"},{"name":"Institute of Biotranslational Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,11,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1016\/0891-5849(94)00159-H","article-title":"Oxidative mechanisms in the toxicity of metal ions","volume":"18","author":"Stohs","year":"1995","journal-title":"Free Radic. 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