A Versatile catalytic and photothermal lateral flow immunoassay Based on ultrathin Fe-MoS₂ nanosheets for sensitive and accurate detection of Influenza A

Influenza A virus (H1N1) poses a significant threat to global human health that imperative demands the development of sensitive and accurate point-of-care testing (POCT) methods. Here, for the first time, Fe-MoS₂ nanosheets were employed as a multifunctional nanotag in the development of catalytic colorimetric-photothermal dual-mode lateral flow immunoassay (dLFIA) strips for the sensitive detection of H1N1 inactivated virus. The Fe-MoS₂ nanosheets featuring large size, high specific surface area, and ultrathin structure could flow smoothly on the strips and thus quickly produce an ideal colorimetric signal for qualitative analysis. Both the limit of detection (LOD) of catalytic colorimetric and photothermal signals reached 1000 copies/mL and the corresponding calculated LOD was 550 and 691 copies/mL, respectively, which were about 50–90-fold more sensitive than traditional gold nanoparticles based-LFIA (5 × 10⁴ copies/mL). The developed assay could correctly identify eight positive clinical samples with Ct values less than 35 and 10 negative actual samples, proving significant promise for rapid, sensitive, and accurate detection of H1N1, especially in resource-limited areas.