Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Sensors and Biosensors

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Optical and Photonic Biosensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2022) | Viewed by 18638

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Nanosciences and PolitoBIOMed Labs, Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Interests: nanomaterials; biosensors; biochemical surface functionalization; 3D printing; biointerfaces; NEMS; MEMS; surface-enhanced Raman scattering; bioinformatics
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Guest Editor
Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Interests: vibrational spectroscopies; surface-enhanced Raman scattering; plasmonics; synthesis and functionalization of nanomaterials; optofluidic biosensing platforms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering/spectroscopy (SERS) has attracted increasing interest in biotechnological applications, especially concerning those related to biorecognition and bioimaging. Indeed, thanks to a multidisciplinary approach that includes physics, chemistry, materials science, biomedicine, and electronics, this technique is more and more applied for the identification and detection of chemicals and biomolecules, or in biomedical imaging (e.g., guided surgery). Optical biosensing platforms based on SERS offer great advantages over conventional laboratory analytical methods because they allow fast and direct real-time and often label-free detection of many biological molecules, showing high specificity and sensitivity. In such a framework, research on advanced plasmonic sensors and biosensors has been mainly directed towards the recognition of biomarkers at very low concentrations, as well as emerging pollutants and food-contaminants, making SERS a technique of growing relevance for medical, biotechnological, and environmental applications.

In the last few decades, several nanomaterials, as well as several sensing strategies, have been developed to exploit the ultra-high sensitivity of plasmonic nanostructures, typically composed of noble metals (Au, Ag, Pt, etc.) in the form of roughened surfaces, nanoparticle aggregates, or arrayed elements, combined with the specific molecular recognition of customized receptors/probes immobilized on their surface. Once integrated into lab-on-a-chip, these biofunctional SERS-active nanostructures, result in small-size and cost-effective devices exploitable for point-of-care analysis.

This Special Issue will introduce recent progress in the field of SERS-based biosensing platforms and SERS methods for biodetection, including fabrication of novel nanostructures and devices, development of innovative biorecognition systems, and their applications in bioanalysis.

Dr. Alessandro Chiadò
Dr. Chiara Novara
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Raman spectroscopy
  • Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)
  • Biosensing
  • Plasmonic nanostructures
  • Nanotechnological fabrication
  • Microfluidics
  • Trace hazard substances detection
  • Biomedical SERS devices
  • Agri-food security
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Portable biosensing platforms
  • Low cost, efficient, uniform, and reproducible SERS substrates fabrication technologies

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 5188 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Monitoring of the In Situ Microfluidic Synthesis of Ag Nanoparticles on Solid Substrate for Reliable SERS Detection
by Niccolò Paccotti, Alessandro Chiadò, Chiara Novara, Paola Rivolo, Daniel Montesi, Francesco Geobaldo and Fabrizio Giorgis
Biosensors 2021, 11(12), 520; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11120520 - 16 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2845
Abstract
A sharpened control over the parameters affecting the synthesis of plasmonic nanostructures is often crucial for their application in biosensing, which, if based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), requires well-defined optical properties of the substrate. In this work, a method for the microfluidic [...] Read more.
A sharpened control over the parameters affecting the synthesis of plasmonic nanostructures is often crucial for their application in biosensing, which, if based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), requires well-defined optical properties of the substrate. In this work, a method for the microfluidic synthesis of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on porous silicon (pSi) was developed, focusing on achieving a fine control over the morphological characteristics and spatial distribution of the produced nanostructures to be used as SERS substrates. To this end, a pSi membrane was integrated in a microfluidic chamber in which the silver precursor solution was injected, allowing for the real-time monitoring of the reaction by UV–Vis spectroscopy. The synthesis parameters, such as the concentration of the silver precursor, the temperature, and the flow rate, were varied in order to study their effects on the final silver NPs’ morphology. Variations in the flow rate affected the size distribution of the NPs, whereas both the temperature and the concentration of the silver precursor strongly influenced the rate of the reaction and the particle size. Consistently with the described trends, SERS tests using 4-MBA as a probe showed how the flow rate variation affected the SERS enhancement uniformity, and how the production of larger NPs, as a result of an increase in temperature or of the concentration of the Ag precursor, led to an increased SERS efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Sensors and Biosensors)
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10 pages, 7018 KiB  
Communication
ZnO Tips Dotted with Au Nanoparticles—Advanced SERS Determination of Trace Nicotine
by Jiaying Cao, Yan Zhai, Wanxin Tang, Xiaoyu Guo, Ying Wen and Haifeng Yang
Biosensors 2021, 11(11), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11110465 - 19 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2691
Abstract
Long-term exposure to nicotine causes a variety of human diseases, such as lung damage/adenocarcinoma, nausea and vomiting, headache, incontinence and heart failure. In this work, as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, zinc oxide (ZnO) tips decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are fabricated [...] Read more.
Long-term exposure to nicotine causes a variety of human diseases, such as lung damage/adenocarcinoma, nausea and vomiting, headache, incontinence and heart failure. In this work, as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, zinc oxide (ZnO) tips decorated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are fabricated and designated as ZnO/Au. Taking advantage of the synergistic effect of a ZnO semiconductor with morphology of tips and AuNPs, the ZnO/Au-based SERS assay for nicotine demonstrates high sensitivity and the limit of detection 8.9 × 10−12 mol/L is reached, as well as the corresponding linear dynamic detection range of 10−10–10−6 mol/L. Additionally, the signal reproducibility offered by the SERS substrate could realize the reliable determination of trace nicotine in saliva. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Sensors and Biosensors)
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Review

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35 pages, 3769 KiB  
Review
Raman Scattering-Based Biosensing: New Prospects and Opportunities
by Kseniya V. Serebrennikova, Anna N. Berlina, Dmitriy V. Sotnikov, Anatoly V. Zherdev and Boris B. Dzantiev
Biosensors 2021, 11(12), 512; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11120512 - 13 Dec 2021
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 7209
Abstract
The growing interest in the development of new platforms for the application of Raman spectroscopy techniques in biosensor technologies is driven by the potential of these techniques in identifying chemical compounds, as well as structural and functional features of biomolecules. The effect of [...] Read more.
The growing interest in the development of new platforms for the application of Raman spectroscopy techniques in biosensor technologies is driven by the potential of these techniques in identifying chemical compounds, as well as structural and functional features of biomolecules. The effect of Raman scattering is a result of inelastic light scattering processes, which lead to the emission of scattered light with a different frequency associated with molecular vibrations of the identified molecule. Spontaneous Raman scattering is usually weak, resulting in complexities with the separation of weak inelastically scattered light and intense Rayleigh scattering. These limitations have led to the development of various techniques for enhancing Raman scattering, including resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) and nonlinear Raman spectroscopy (coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy and stimulated Raman spectroscopy). Furthermore, the discovery of the phenomenon of enhanced Raman scattering near metallic nanostructures gave impetus to the development of the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as well as its combination with resonance Raman spectroscopy and nonlinear Raman spectroscopic techniques. The combination of nonlinear and resonant optical effects with metal substrates or nanoparticles can be used to increase speed, spatial resolution, and signal amplification in Raman spectroscopy, making these techniques promising for the analysis and characterization of biological samples. This review provides the main provisions of the listed Raman techniques and the advantages and limitations present when applied to life sciences research. The recent advances in SERS and SERS-combined techniques are summarized, such as SERRS, SE-CARS, and SE-SRS for bioimaging and the biosensing of molecules, which form the basis for potential future applications of these techniques in biosensor technology. In addition, an overview is given of the main tools for success in the development of biosensors based on Raman spectroscopy techniques, which can be achieved by choosing one or a combination of the following approaches: (i) fabrication of a reproducible SERS substrate, (ii) synthesis of the SERS nanotag, and (iii) implementation of new platforms for on-site testing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Sensors and Biosensors)
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17 pages, 3481 KiB  
Review
Recent Progress of SERS Nanoprobe for pH Detecting and Its Application in Biological Imaging
by Lei Zhang, Qianqian Zhao, Zhitao Jiang, Jingjing Shen, Weibing Wu, Xingfen Liu, Quli Fan and Wei Huang
Biosensors 2021, 11(8), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios11080282 - 19 Aug 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4608
Abstract
As pH value almost affects the function of cells and organisms in all aspects, in biology, biochemical and many other research fields, it is necessary to apply simple, intuitive, sensitive, stable detection of pH and base characteristics inside and outside the cell. Therefore, [...] Read more.
As pH value almost affects the function of cells and organisms in all aspects, in biology, biochemical and many other research fields, it is necessary to apply simple, intuitive, sensitive, stable detection of pH and base characteristics inside and outside the cell. Therefore, many research groups have explored the design and application of pH probes based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). In this review article, we discussed the basic theoretical background of explaining the working mechanism of pH SERS sensors, and also briefly described the significance of cell pH measurement, and simply classified and summarized the factors that affected the performance of pH SERS probes. Some applications of pH probes based on surface enhanced Raman scattering in intracellular and extracellular pH imaging and the combination of other analytical detection techniques are described. Finally, the development prospect of this field is presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Sensors and Biosensors)
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