Electrochemical aptasensor based on highly conductive rod-shaped Ce-MOF@AuPd NFs and high-efficiency 3D DNA walker for the detection of acrylamide

As a food and environmental contaminant having harmful qualities like neurotoxicity and carcinogenicity, acrylamide (AA) is a risk to human health. In this study, Ce-MOF@AuPd NFs were utilized as electrode modification materials to develop a signal-off electrochemical aptasensor in combination with Mg²⁺-dependent DNAzyme-driven 3D DNA walker and triplex molecular switch (THMS) for the sensitive detection of AA. Ce-MOF@AuPd NFs exhibit an expansive surface area and enhanced conductive properties, enabling the binding of substantial DNA sequences and speeding up electron transfer. The Mg²⁺-dependent DNAzyme-driven 3D DNA walker improves the nucleic acid shearing efficiency with excellent signal amplification performance, and combines with the DNA-specific structure THMS to further boost sensor sensitivity. The sensor also demonstrated excellent specificity, reproducibility, repeatability, and stability, along with achieving satisfactory recovery rates when tested on potato chips and coffee samples. The electrochemical aptasensor offers strong application prospects for AA detection in food, according to the results.