Bimetallic core shelled nanoparticles (Au@AgNPs) for rapid detection of thiram and dicyandiamide contaminants in liquid milk using SERS

Mesoporous silica-loaded gold nanocluster with enhanced fluorescence and ratiometric fluorescent detection of thiram in foods

A core-shell QDs@mSiO2@y-AuNCs nanoprobe was prepared, and a new ratiometric fluorescent sensor for thiram detection was developed. The mechanism of thiram sensing was investigated using FTIR, surface-enhanced Raman, XPS spectra, etc. The sensing of thiram was mainly ascribed to the formation of Au-S bonds between thiram and Au atoms on y-AuNCs surface, resulting in the dissociation of 11-MUA ligand from the y-AuNCs surface and the charge transfer between thiram and y-AuNCs. In the ratiometric fluorescence detection of thiram based on QDs@mSiO2@y-AuNCs, a linear range of 0.5-60 ng/mL was obtained with a LOD of 0.19 ng/mL. Compared with the fluorescence detection based on y-AuNCs, the ratiometric fluorescence detection of thiram demonstrated 3-fold enhanced sensitivity. The improvement was ascribed to two aspects: the fluorescence emission of y-AuNCs was enhanced after they were loaded onto the QDs@mSiO2 nanoparticles; the ratiometric detection mode provided more precise sensing. The detection of thiram can be completed immediately after mixing the nanoprobe with thiram. Good recoveries of thiram in apple and pear samples were achieved. All the above results demonstrated the high potential of this method in practical applications.

Novel extraction, rapid assessment and bioavailability improvement of quercetin: A review

Quercetin (QUR) have got the attention of scientific society frequently due to their wide range of potential applications. QUR has been the focal point for research in various fields, especially in food development. But, the QUR is highly unstable and can be interrupted by using conventional assessment methods. Therefore, researchers are focusing on novel extraction and non-invasive tools for the non-destructive assessment of QUR. The current review elaborates the different novel extraction (ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and enzyme-assisted extraction) and non-destructive assessment techniques (fluorescence spectroscopy, terahertz spectroscopy, near-infrared spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging, Raman spectroscopy, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy) for the extraction and identification of QUR in agricultural products. The novel extraction approaches facilitate shorter extraction time, involve less organic solvent, and are environmentally friendly. While the non-destructive techniques are non-interruptive, label-free, reliable, accurate, and environmental friendly. The non-invasive spectroscopic and imaging methods are suitable for the sensitive detection of bioactive compounds than conventional techniques. QUR has potential therapeutic properties such as anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, antiallergic, antineoplastic agent, neuroprotector, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities. Besides, due to the low bioavailability of QUR innovative drug delivery strategies (QUR loaded gel, QUR polymeric micelle, QUR nanoparticles, glucan-QUR conjugate, and QUR loaded mucoadhesive nanoemulsions) have been proposed to improve its bioavailability and providing novel therapeutic approaches.

In-Situ Synthesis of Methyl Cellulose Film Decorated with Silver Nanoparticles as a Flexible Surface-Enhanced Raman Substrate for the Rapid Detection of Pesticide Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

The purpose of this study was to develop a flexible substrate methylcellulose-decorated silver nanoparticles (MC/Ag NPs) film and explore its application in fruits and vegetables by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technology for rapid detection of pesticides. The performance of the MC/Ag NPs film substrate was characterized by Nile blue A (NBA), and the detection limit was as low as 10⁻⁸ M. The substrate also exhibited satisfactory Raman signal strength after two months of storage. The impressive sensitivity and stability were due to the excellent homogeneity of the silver nanoparticles that were grown in situ in the methylcellulose matrix, which generated “hot spots” between the silver nanoparticles without a large amount of aggregation, and resulted in the ultra-high sensitivity and excellent stability of the MC/Ag NPs film substrate. The MC/Ag NPs film substrate was used to detect thiram pesticides on tomato and cucumber peels, and the minimum detectable level of thiram was 2.4 ng/cm², which was much lower than the maximum residue level. These results indicate that the MC/Ag NPs film is sensitive to rapid detection of multiple pesticides in food.

Assembled Au/ZnO Nano-Urchins for SERS Sensing of the Pesticide Thiram

In this paper, we are relating a significant improvement of the SERS effect achieved with assembled Au/ZnO nano-urchins. This improvement is realized thanks to an excellent capacity of adsorption (denoted K) for thiram molecules on these plasmonic nano-urchins, which is a key point to be taken into account for obtaining a SERS spectrum. Moreover, this outlook may be employed for different types of plasmonic substrates and for a wide number of molecules. We studied the capacity of the assembled Au/ZnO nano-urchins to be sensitive to the pesticide thiram, which adsorbs well on metals via the metal-sulfur bond. For the thiram detection, we found a limit concentration of 10 pM, a value of this capacity of adsorption (K) of 9.5 × 106 M-1 and a factor of analytical enhancement equal to 1.9 × 108.

Recent developments in Raman spectral analysis of microbial single cells: Techniques and applications

The conventional microbial cell analyses are mostly population-averaged methods that conceal the characteristics of single-cell in the community. Single-cell analysis can provide information on the functional and structural variation of each cell, resulting in the elimination of long and tedious microbial cultivation techniques. Raman spectroscopy is a label-free, noninvasive, and in-vivo method ideal for single-cell measurement to obtain spatially resolved chemical information. In the current review, recent developments in Raman spectroscopic techniques for microbial characterization at the single-cell level are presented, focusing on Raman imaging of single cells to study the intracellular distribution of different components. The review also discusses the limitation and challenges of each technique and put forward some future outlook for improving Raman spectroscopy-based techniques for single-cell analysis. Raman spectroscopic methods at the single-cell level have potential in precision measurements, metabolic analysis, antibiotic susceptibility testing, resuscitation capability, and correlating phenotypic information to genomics for cells, the integration of Raman spectroscopy with other techniques such as microfluidics, stable isotope probing (SIP), and atomic force microscope can further improve the resolution and provide extensive information. Future focuses should be given to advance algorithms for data analysis, standardized reference libraries, and automated cell isolation techniques in future.

Synthesis of bimetallic core-shelled nanoparticles modified by 2-mercaptoethanol as SERS substrates for detecting ferbam and thiabendazole in apple puree

Modification of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates with thiol ligands is an emerging approach in enhancing the stability and sensitivity of metal substrates due to their good affinity with metals such as Au, Ag, and Cu. Thus, in the current study, 2-mercaptoethanol was used to modify the surface of silver-coated gold nanoparticles to develop a novel SERS substrate for the rapid assessment of fungicide residues in fruit samples. Results showed that the substrate could achieve the detection of ferbam and thiabendazole residues in apple puree with limits of detection of approximately 0.0042 and 0.0064 ppm, high coefficients of determination of 0.9946 and 0.9968, good recoveries ranging from 80 to 105 and 81 to 107% and relative standard deviations of 3.5-7.5 and 3.8-7.9 %, respectively. Therefore, the substrate developed could potentially be utilised to assess other toxic agrochemicals in future.

Silver-nanoparticle-grafted silicon nanocones for reproducible Raman detection of trace contaminants in complex liquid environments

Super-hydrophobic delivery (SHD) is an efficient approach to enrich trace analytes into hot spot regions for ultrasensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. In this article, we propose an efficient and simple method to prepare a highly-uniform SHD-SERS platform of high performance in trace detection, named as "silver-nanoparticle-grafted silicon nanocones" (termed AgNPs/SiNC) platform. It is fabricated via droplet-confined electroless deposition on the super-hydrophobic SiNC array. The AgNPs/SiNC platform allows trace analytes enriched into hot spots formed by AgNPs, leading to an excellent reproducibility and sensitivity. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for detecting R6G (10^-7 M) is down to 4.70% and the lowest detection concentration for R6G is 10^-14 M. Moreover, various contaminants in complex liquid environments, such as, crystal violet (10^-9 M) in lake water, melamine (10^-7 M) in liquid milk and methyl parathion (10^-7 M) in tap water, can be detected using the SERS platform. This result demonstrates the great potential of the AgNPs/SiNC platform in the fields of food safety and environmental monitoring.

Investigation of photocatalysis reactions on the single-crystal and polycrystalline graphenes

Graphene has been extensive studied in the field of photocatalysis. Herein, single-crystal and polycrystalline graphenes are prepared by mechanical exfoliation and chemical vapor deposition (CVD), respectively. The photocatalytic properties of polycrystalline graphene are carefully assessed by using 4-nitrobenzenethiol (4-NBT), as a probe molecule, under incident 532 nm laser beam. Similarly, the photocatalytic properties of single-crystal graphene are also investigated with 4-aminothiophenol (PATP) under incident 633 nm laser radiation. In order to solve the problem of uneven distribution of probe molecules on graphene, the internal standard method is adopted by using 2-naphthalenethiol (2-NT), as the internal standard molecule. The experimental findings indicate that PATP can be catalyzed onto the surface of single-crystal graphene under the irradiation of 633 nm laser beam and its catalytic properties significantly increase with decreasing the number of graphene layers. In addition, when single-crystal graphene is used as the Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement substrate, the SERS enhancement was also increased with the decrease of the number of layers.

Quantitative detection of dithiocarbamate pesticides by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy combined with an exhaustive peak-seeking method

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based on nanosilver colloid substrates has great potential for rapid detection of pesticide residues because of its advantages of sensitivity, rapidity, simplicity, low cost, etc. However, its poor repeatability and narrow linear quantitative range limit its practical application. In this paper, a silver colloid SERS analysis method combined with an exhaustive peak-seeking method was introduced for quantitative determination of thiram and ziram. This method can establish a linear quantitative relationship in a wide range by use of an own characteristic peak of analysis as an internal standard (IS) which is found via judging the linear correlation between the intensity ratios of two SERS peaks of analytes and the concentrations. Combined with improving the preparation method of silver colloids, adding suitable activators and optimizing the detection process, a liquid detection system with good repeatability and a wide linear quantitation range was obtained. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of the strongest SERS peak is no more than 8.98%, which is better than the general case of the silver colloid SERS substrate. The ratio of I₁₃₈₄/I₁₁₄₈ has a good linear relationship with the concentration of thiram solution, and the 1148 cm^-1 characteristic peak was utilized as the IS to establish the standard curve equation for the determination of thiram concentration. The equation is I₁₃₈₄/I₁₁₄₈ = -1.7930 × lg[c_thiram (ppm)] + 6.0078 with a linear range of 10^-2 to 10² ppm (4.16 × 10^-8 to 4.16 × 10^-4 mol L^-1) and a limit of detection (LOD) of 10^-2 ppm. The peak of IS for the determination of ziram concentration is at 938 cm^-1, and the equation is I₁₃₈₄/I₉₃₈ = 4.5531 × lg[c_ziram (ppm)] + 6.4792 with a linear range of 10^-1 to 10² ppm (3.27 × 10^-7 to 3.27 × 10^-4 mol L^-1) and a LOD of 10^-4 ppm. Thiram or ziram in apple juice was successfully detected by using this liquid detection system. This analysis system effectively solves the problem of poor repeatability and a narrow linear quantification range in SERS analysis based on silver colloid substrates, and the linear quantification range meets the requirements of the national standard (GB-2763-2019).

Core size optimized silver coated gold nanoparticles for rapid screening of tricyclazole and thiram residues in pear extracts using SERS

Silver-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@AgNPs) were optimized with different gold (Au) core sizes and modified surface with mercaptooctane (MCO) to determine fungicide residues in pear fruit extracts. The developed MCO/Au@AgNPs with a gold core size of 28 nm and silver shell thickness of 6 nm exhibited high sensitivity and significant enhancement of Raman scattering in detecting tricyclazole (TCZ) and thiram fungicides in standard and pear fruit samples. The detection limits for TCZ and thiram in the pear fruit extracts were 0.005 and 0.003 ppm with coefficients of determination of (R²) of 0.9984 and 0.9971, percent recovery ranging from 82.7 to 107.4% and 80.7 to 109.8%, and relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.5 to 7.9% and 3.7 to 9.5%, respectively. Results showed that this easily prepared method could be employed as SERS active platforms for the rapid assessment of trace contaminants of agrochemicals in agriculture production.

Au@Ag-TGANPs based SERS for facile screening of thiabendazole and ferbam in liquid milk

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy based on thioglycolic acid (TGA) functionalized silver-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@Ag-TGANPs) was developed for the facile screening of thiabendazole (TBZ) and ferbam (0.025-10 ppm) in liquid milk for the first time. Results showed that silver-coated gold nanoparticles (Au@AgNPs) with a core size of 32 nm and a shell thickness of 5 nm was successfully modified with 3 nm TGA. The sensitive Au@Ag-TGANPs could enhance TBZ and ferbam signals by factors of 6.4 × 10⁴ and 9.8 × 10⁴, respectively, and achieved the detection of TBZ and ferbam with limits of detection of 0.12 and 0.003 ppm, R² of 0.988 and 0.9821, percent recoveries of 88-103% and of 87.2-103.5%, and relative standard deviations of 4.1-9.2% and 3.5-8.3%, respectively. The current simple and green method could thus be used to detect other unsafe chemicals in future studies.

Determination of NADH by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Using Au@MB@Ag NPs

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) is an important coenzyme involved in various metabolic processes of living cells. As an important biomarker, NADH is associated with breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. In this paper, silver plated gold core–shell nanoparticles containing Raman signal molecules were synthesised on the basis of bare gold. Using the Raman peak corresponding to the 4-mercaptobenzonitrile (MB) silent region C≡N vibration for quantification, while avoiding competition with the precious metal surface binding site to be measured, it can also be free from the interference of endogenous biomolecules. On the one hand, it can correct the working curve, on the other hand, it can avoid competing with the binding site. Compared with the core–shell structure prepared here, the limit of detection (LOD) for NADH was only 10−5 M for bare gold and the LOD for the core–shell structure prepared on the basis of bare gold was 3.3 × 10−7 M. In terms of correction, with Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a Raman signalling molecule, the R2 value before SERS detection and correction is only 0.9405, and the R2 value after correction increases to 0.9853. The unique fingerprint peak of SERS was used to realise the quantitative detection of NADH, which realizes the detection of NADH in complex biological samples of serum and provides the possibility for expanding the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Inkjet printed silver nanoparticles on hydrophobic papers for efficient detection of thiram

Silver nanoparticles coated paper (AgNPs-paper) substrates were prepared by inkjet printing Ag ink on four different wettability papers. Scanning electron microscope and contact angle analyzer were used to characterize their surface morphology and wettability. AgNPs-paper substrates were used to detect the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of thiram aqueous solution. Relationships between the surface wettability, surface morphology and SERS activities of the substrates were systematically studied. The silver nanoparticles deposited on the hydrophobic papers (photographic paper, graph paper, and weighing paper) were evenly and densely arranged. While in-homogeneous distribution was observed on the hydrophilic printing paper. It can be found that the AgNPs-photographic paper with the maximum contact angle exhibited the highest SERS enhancement. The detection limit for thiram adsorbed on the AgNPs-photographic paper was 10^-10 mol/L, which was lower than the others. Good linear responses (R² = 0.9918, 0.9897) between the SERS intensities and logarithmic concentrations were obtained from 10⁴ to 10^-10 mol/L. Moreover, the substrate had good uniformity and reproducibility with relative standard deviation values of 4.20% and 4.90% measured by eight points and ten substrates, respectively. The AgNPs-photographic paper exhibited high stability within eight months.

Two-dimensional self-assembled Au-Ag core-shell nanorods nanoarray for sensitive detection of thiram in apple using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The development of substrate with high sensitivity and good reproducibility for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of contaminants in foods has attracted more and more attention. Herein, a stable two-dimensional (2D) Au-Ag core-shell nanorods (Au@Ag NRs) nanoarray substrate with high-performance SERS activity was developed based on interface self-assembly strategy and successfully applied to the detection of thiram in apple sample. A broad linearity range of 0.01-10 mg/L and a low limit of detection of 0.018 mg/L were achieved for thiram solution. The substrate was stable and exhibited satisfactory sensitivity after preserving at ambient temperature for 4 weeks. Furthermore, this method presented the comparable result to that acquired from high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with satisfactory recoveries of 93-116%. The study indicated that the prepared Au@Ag NRs nanoarray substrate was promising for SERS detection of contaminants such as pesticides in foods.

Polymer multilayers enabled stable and flexible Au@Ag nanoparticle array for nondestructive SERS detection of pesticide residues

The development of flexible and robust plasmonic substrates has become a hot research topic in simplifying and extending the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique for real-world analysis. In this work, a facile method to fabricate an Au@Ag nanoparticle array sandwiched between the adhesive acrylic polymer tape and polyethene terephthalate (PET) film (T/Au@Ag/PET) as a high-performance SERS chip was reported for nondestructive detection of thiram on fruit peels. For this SERS chip, the ordered Au@Ag nanoparticle array formed by the self-assembly method was closely-packed, which generated high-density sub-3-nm gaps and could produce high reproducible and sensitive SERS enhancement effects. The measurement of crystal violet with the limit of detection of 7.24 × 10^-10 M was realized by targeting Raman shift at 1177 cm^-1. Moreover, the excellent flexible feature of acrylic polymer tape enabled the substrate to withstand a tensile strain value of 20% for three cycles without significantly losing its SERS activity. By covering with a PET film, the SERS chip could maintain 87% SERS activity after storage for 60 days in the air environment, and could well withstand the influence of harsh conditions such as high temperature and ultrasound treatments. As a proof of the concept, the SERS tape was directly used to detect thiram on apple, tomato, and cucumber peels via a simple sampling-and-detection procedure, and the detection limit of 5 ng/cm² was achieved. The T/Au@Ag/PET SERS chip should hold a promising candidate for food safety analysis in the future.

Strategy to improve gold nanoparticles loading efficiency on defect-free high silica ZSM-5 zeolite for the reduction of nitrophenols

Catalytic reduction of toxic and aqueous stable nitrophenols by gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) is hot issue due to the serious environmental pollution in recent years. But the expensive price and poor recycling performance of Au NPs limit its further application. Defect-free high silica zeolite is suitable support for Au NPs due to its cheaper price, higher stability and stronger adsorbability, but the low alumina content and defect sites usually lead to poor Au NPs loading efficiency. Herein, we reported the improved Au NPs loading efficiency on defect-free high silica ZSM-5 zeolite through the additional surface fluffy structure. The fluffy structure was created through the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and ethanol into synthesis gel. Highly dispersed ca. 4 nm Au NPs on zeolite surface are prepared by the green enhanced sol-gel immobilization method. The Au NPs loading efficiency on conventional ZSM-5 zeolite is 10.7%, in contrast, this result can arrive to 82.6% on fluffy structure ZSM-5 zeolite. The fluffy structure ZSM-5 zeolite and Au NPs nanocomposites show higher efficiency than traditional Au/ZSM-5 nanocomposites towards catalytic reduction of nitrophenols. Additionally, the experiments with different affecting factors (MWCNTs dosage, aging time, catalysts dosage, pH, initial 4-NP concentration, storage time and recycling times) were carried out to test general applicability of the nanocomposites. And the degradation of nitrophenols experiment was operated to explore the catalytic performance of the prepared nanocomposites in further environmental application. The detailed possible relationship between zeolite with fluffy structure and Au NPs is also proposed in the paper.

DNA functionalized metal and metal oxide nanoparticles: principles and recent advances in food safety detection

The frequent occurrence of food safety incidents has given rise to unprecedented concern about food contamination issues for both consumers and the industry. Various contaminations in food pose serious threats to food safety and human health. Many detection methods were studied to address the challenge. Recently, biosensors relying on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-functionalized nanoparticles have been developed as an efficient and effective detection method. In the current review, the strategies for DNA assembly metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are elaborated, recent applications of the sensors based on DNA-functionalized nanoparticles in food contaminant detection are discussed. Pathogenic bacteria, heavy metal ions, mycotoxins, antibiotics, and pesticides are covered as food contaminants. Additionally, limitations and future trends of functionalized nanoparticles-based technology are also presented. The current review indicates that DNA-functionalized metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are a novel nanomaterial with unique biological and physical properties for developing electrochemical, fluorescent, colourimetric and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors, etc. Compared with conventional detection techniques, DNA-functionalized metal and metal oxide nanoparticles have considerable advantages with high accuracy, high specificity, micro-intelligence, and low cost. Nevertheless, the stability of these sensors and the limitations of real-time detection are still under discussion. Therefore, more tolerant, portable, and rapid DNA sensors should be developed to better the real-time monitoring of harmful contaminants.

Optical nanosensors for biofilm detection in the food industry: principles, applications and challenges

Biofilms are the universal lifestyle of bacteria enclosed in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the contact surfaces of food processing facilities. The EPS-encapsulated foodborne bacterial pathogens are the main food contaminant sources, posing a serious threat to human health. The microcrystalline, sophisticated and dynamic biofilms necessitate the development of conventional microscopic imaging and spectral technology. Nanosensors, which can transfer the biochemical information into optical signals, have recently emerged for biofilm optical detection with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution at nanoscale scopes. Therefore, the aim of this review is to clarify the main detection scope in biofilms and the detection principles of optical nanosensors arousing Raman enhancement, fluoresce conversion and color change. The difficulties and challenges of biofilm characterization including the secretion and variation of main biochemical components are first discussed, the details about the principles and application examples of bioassays targeting foodborne pathogens based on optical nanosensors are then summarized. Finally, the challenges and future trends in developing optical nanosensors are also highlighted. The current review indicates that optical nanosensors have taken the challenges of detecting biofilm in complex food samples, including the characterization of biofilm formation mechanism, identification of microbial metabolic activities, diagnosis of potential food pathogens and sanitation monitoring of food processing equipment. Numerous in-depth explorations and various trials have proven that the bioassays based on multifunctional optical nanosensors are promising to ensure and promote food safety and quality. However, there still remains a daunting challenge to structure reproducible, biocompatible and applicable nano-sensors for biofilm characterization, identification, and imaging.

Rapid detection of ziram residues in apple and pear fruits by SERS based on octanethiol functionalized bimetallic core-shell nanoparticles

Existing approaches for the screening of unsafe materials in food matrices are time-consuming, tiresome and destructive in nature. Therefore, in the current study, a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method based on octanethiol-functionalized core-shell nanoparticles (Oct/Au@AgNPs) was established for rapid detection of ziram in apple and pear fruits. The morphology of substrate was evaluated using high-resolution TEM images and superimposed HAADF-STEM-EDS elemental mapping images, which confirmed that Au@AgNPs having gold (Au) core size of 28 nm in diameter and silver (Ag) shell of 5.5 nm in thickness were successfully grafted with octanethiol. The SERS method with the sensitive nanoparticles could detect ziram of up to 0.015 and 0.016 ppm in apple and pear with high coefficients of determination (R²) of 0.9987 and 0.9993, respectively. Furthermore, satisfactory recoveries (80-106%) were also accomplished for the fungicide in real samples. This work demonstrated that the functionalized silver-coated gold nanoparticles were easy to prepare and could be used as sensitive SERS platforms for monitoring of other agrochemicals in foods.

Latest Novelties on Plasmonic and Non-Plasmonic Nanomaterials for SERS Sensing

An explosion in the production of substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has occurred using novel designs of plasmonic nanostructures (e.g., nanoparticle self-assembly), new plasmonic materials such as bimetallic nanomaterials (e.g., Au/Ag) and hybrid nanomaterials (e.g., metal/semiconductor), and new non-plasmonic nanomaterials. The novel plasmonic nanomaterials can enable a better charge transfer or a better confinement of the electric field inducing a SERS enhancement by adjusting, for instance, the size, shape, spatial organization, nanoparticle self-assembly, and nature of nanomaterials. The new non-plasmonic nanomaterials can favor a better charge transfer caused by atom defects, thus inducing a SERS enhancement. In last two years (2019-2020), great insights in the fields of design of plasmonic nanosystems based on the nanoparticle self-assembly and new plasmonic and non-plasmonic nanomaterials were realized. This mini-review is focused on the nanoparticle self-assembly, bimetallic nanoparticles, nanomaterials based on metal-zinc oxide, and other nanomaterials based on metal oxides and metal oxide-metal for SERS sensing.

Plasmonic nanoparticles on metal-organic framework: A versatile SERS platform for adsorptive detection of new coccine and orange II dyes in food

Synthetic dyes have been widely applied to food processing, but abuse of colourants in food may pose risks to human health. To analyze new coccine (NC) and orange II (OII) in food, a versatile surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform was proposed. A metal-organic framework (MOF, UiO-66(NH₂)) with octahedral crystal structure was synthesized and gold nanoparticles were grown on the MOF surface to fabricate UiO-66(NH₂)@Au versatile SERS platform. The UiO-66(NH₂)@Au displayed much better SERS performance than gold nanoparticles with high R² of 0.9684 for NC and 0.9912 for OII and low LOD of 0.4015 mg/L for NC and 0.0546 mg/L for OII. The recoveries of NC and OII in Mirinda soft drink and paprika ranged from 82.92 to 109.63%. This study provided a sensitive and rapid method for determination of NC and OII through UiO-66(NH₂)@Au, and the proposed SERS platform revealed great potential for analyzing synthetic colourants in food samples.

Rapid nondestructive detection of mixed pesticides residues on fruit surface using SERS combined with self-modeling mixture analysis method

Mixed pesticides are usually applied to agricultural products to enhance agricultural production. However, their presence in the environment and food poses serious health risks to humans. Therefore, rapid and reliable detection methods for mixed pesticides residues are in need to minimize potential health hazards. Herein, a nondestructive and sensitive strategy was developed to determine thiram and thiabendazole (TBZ) mixture on fruit surface using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technology coupled with interfacial self-assembly gold nanorods (Au NRs) array substrates together with self-modelling mixture analysis (SMA) method. Firstly, a large area high-density Au NRs array was fabricated by organic-aqueous interfacial self-assembly to serve as a sensitive SERS substrate for simultaneously screening of thiram and TBZ on the fruit surface. Then, an SMA method was employed to identify and separate the Raman spectrum for each pesticide from the Raman spectra of the pesticides mixture on the contaminated fruit surface. Results showed that using SERS technique with the SMA method, qualitative and quantitative analyses of a single component from the spectra of the mixture were simultaneously realized, and the resolved pure spectrum of each pesticide was presented. The limits of detection (LOD) of pesticides on the surface of apple, tomato and pear were 0.041, 0.029 and 0.047 ng/cm² for thiram, and 0.79, 0.76 and 0.80 ng/cm² for TBZ, respectively. It was anticipated that the proposed SERS detection approach combined with SMA methods should pave the way for detecting multi-analytes in practical applications for agriculture and food safety inspection.