SERS detection of protein biochip fabricated by etching polystyrene template

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy study on the structure changes of 4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid under different pH conditions

4-Mercaptophenylboronic Acid (4-MPBA) plays pivotal role in various fields. The orientation and existing form of the 4-MPBA strongly depend on the pH value of the media. The general aim of this work is to obtain information about the structure changes of 4-MPBA absorbed on Ag nanoparticles in different pH environment. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique is a simple and rapid method to study adsorption phenomena at molecule level. The investigation is done by means of SERS. In order to interpret the experimental information, a series of SERS spectra is carried out. The relative intensities of the totally symmetric (a₁ mode) and non-totally symmetric (b₂ mode) bands in the SERS spectra of 4-MPBA change depend on the environmental pH values, which is a manifestation of charge transfer (CT) processes. The degree of charge transfer increases with the pH value of the media changing from acidity to alkalinity. The structure changes of MPBA had been carried out in different pH environment. We envision that this approach will be of great significance in related fields of 4-MPBA-involved detection.

Highly reproducible SERS arrays directly written by inkjet printing

SERS arrays with uniform gold nanoparticle distribution were fabricated by direct-writing with an inkjet printing method. Quantitative analysis based on Raman detection was achieved with a small standard statistical deviation of less than 4% for the reproducibility and less than 5% for the long-term stability for 12 weeks.

Nanomaterials for diagnosis: challenges and applications in smart devices based on molecular recognition

Clinical diagnosis has always been dependent on the efficient immobilization of biomolecules in solid matrices with preserved activity, but significant developments have taken place in recent years with the increasing control of molecular architecture in organized films. Of particular importance is the synergy achieved with distinct materials such as nanoparticles, antibodies, enzymes, and other nanostructures, forming structures organized on the nanoscale. In this review, emphasis will be placed on nanomaterials for biosensing based on molecular recognition, where the recognition element may be an enzyme, DNA, RNA, catalytic antibody, aptamer, and labeled biomolecule. All of these elements may be assembled in nanostructured films, whose layer-by-layer nature is essential for combining different properties in the same device. Sensing can be done with a number of optical, electrical, and electrochemical methods, which may also rely on nanostructures for enhanced performance, as is the case of reporting nanoparticles in bioelectronics devices. The successful design of such devices requires investigation of interface properties of functionalized surfaces, for which a variety of experimental and theoretical methods have been used. Because diagnosis involves the acquisition of large amounts of data, statistical and computational methods are now in widespread use, and one may envisage an integrated expert system where information from different sources may be mined to generate the diagnostics.

Surface-enhanced fluorescent immunoassay on 2D silver nanotriangles array

Long range ordered silver nanotriangles array was fabricated for surface-enhanced fluorescent immunoassay in this paper. By polystyrene (PS) microspheres based LB template method, the silver nanotriangle array with about 100 nm in height was constructed on the surface of glass slide. On the surface of Ag nanotriangles array, the immune reaction of antigens and labeled antibodies was carried out. Based on the interaction of fluorophores from antibodies with the plasmon resonance from Ag nanotriangles and the enrichment effect of this patterned array, 3.11 times enhancement of the fluorescent intensity of the target antibodies was obtained. According to the fitting curve of fluorescent intensities and logarithmic concentrations of labeled antibodies from 100 pg/mL to 10 μg/mL, it concludes that the limit of detection by this Ag nanotriangles array for immune complex is 100 pg/mL. Due to the advantages of high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and convenient fabrication, the 2D silver nanotriangles array could be an exciting platform for bioassays in proteomics, drug discovery and diagnostics.