Multifunctional antimonene-gold nanocomposites for fluorescence sensing of exosomes and metal ions, molecular information encoding and protection

Inspired by the emergent functions of molecular interactions and signal processing networks in living systems, exploring the multifunctional properties and perceptual capabilities of molecular or nanosystems and digitizing their signal responses and interaction networks remains a key challenge. Here, multifunctional antimonene-gold nanocomposites (AM-Au NCs) were synthesized efficiently and conveniently and applied in molecular sensing and digital applications, including multi-component detection and multi-coding information protection. After mixing surfactant, AM, Au3⁺ and NaBH₄, AM-Au NCs with dispersed Au nanoparticles on AM nanosheets, exhibiting prominent Au plasmonic absorption. This endows NCs with unique broad-spectrum fluorescence quenching abilities, facilitating the development of fluorescence sensing platforms with dyes and fluorescence-labeled aptamers for selective and sensitive detection of metal ions and tumor biomarkers (CD63 and tumor-derived exosomes), even in real samples. Through binary or digital encoding of the selective responses and diverse DNA sequences of these sensing systems, a series of molecular encryption and hiding techniques are presented and applied to the molecular-level conservation of special text information. This work provides a new framework for the preparation and multifunctional use of two-dimensional nanocomposites, paving the way for greater integration of molecular sensing and information technology.