A novel fluorescent optical fiber sensor for highly selective detection of antibiotic ciprofloxacin based on replaceable molecularly imprinted nanoparticles composite hydrogel detector

Abstract A novel molecularly imprinted fluorescent optical fiber sensor (MIFOFS) by merging the optical fiber sensor and replaceable molecularly imprinted nanoparticles composite polyethyleneglycol diacrylate hydrogel (MINs@PEGDA) detector was fabricated for rapid and highly selective detection of antibiotics. The fabricated MIFOFS system was connected by a laser light source, an optical fiber spectrometer, a Y-type fiber, a computer, a flange adapter and a detector modified with MINs@PEGDA. The obtained MIFOFS system exhibited good specificity, selectivity and anti-interference ability for the detection of ciprofloxacin (CIP) in environmental water samples. A good linear relationship between the concentration of CIP and the fluorescence intensity with a correlation coefficient of 0.9959 and LOD of 6.86 μM. The obtained MIFOFS possessed the advantages of being detachable, replaceable and promising for rapid detection of multiple targets by mean of replacing different detectors modified with different MINs@PEGDA using different molecules as templates. As a result, the fabricated MIFOFS is expected to be used as a portable pocket instrument for on-site rapid detection of multiple targets for environmental water in the future.