由于黄曲霉毒素的高毒性和限制扩散的困难,食品污染是一个紧迫的全球问题。不幸的是,电流检测技术,主要使用生物传感,防止在整个农业食物链中普遍监测黄曲霉毒素。在这项工作中,我们调查,通过从头算原子计算,一种基于吡咯的分子场效应晶体管(MolFET),作为用于安培检测黄曲霉毒素的单分子传感器。特别是,我们从化学物理的角度从理论上解释了栅极调谐电流调制,我们通过模拟来支持我们的见解。此外,这项工作表明,对于正在审议的案件,使用合适的栅极电压允许传感器性能的显著增强。门控效应将黄曲霉毒素引起的电流调制从100%提高到103÷104%以上。特别是,由于黄曲霉毒素B1的存在,电流从μA范围到nA范围减少了两个数量级。我们的工作激发了未来在微型化FET电检测方面的研究工作,以用于未来黄曲霉毒素的普遍电测量。
Food contamination by aflatoxins is an urgent global issue due to its high level of toxicity and the difficulties in limiting the diffusion. Unfortunately, current detection techniques, which mainly use biosensing, prevent the pervasive monitoring of aflatoxins throughout the agri-food chain. In this work, we investigate, through ab initio atomistic calculations, a pyrrole-based Molecular Field Effect Transistor (MolFET) as a single-molecule sensor for the amperometric detection of aflatoxins. In particular, we theoretically explain the gate-tuned current modulation from a chemical-physical perspective, and we support our insights through simulations. In addition, this work demonstrates that, for the case under consideration, the use of a suitable gate voltage permits a considerable enhancement in the sensor performance. The gating effect raises the current modulation due to aflatoxin from 100% to more than 103÷104%. In particular, the current is diminished by two orders of magnitude from the μA range to the nA range due to the presence of aflatoxin B1. Our work motivates future research efforts in miniaturized FET electrical detection for future pervasive electrical measurement of aflatoxins.