Inhibiting Analyte Theft in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates: Sub-nanomolar quantitative drug detection

TY - JOUR

T1 - Inhibiting Analyte Theft in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates

T2 - Sub-nanomolar quantitative drug detection

AU - De Nijs, Bart

AU - Carnegie, Cloudy

AU - Szabo, Istvan

AU - Grys, David Benjamin

AU - Chikkaraddy, Rohit

AU - Kamp, Marlous

AU - Barrow, Steven J.

AU - Readman, Charlie

AU - Kleemann, Marie Elena

AU - Scherman, Oren A.

AU - Rosta, Edina

AU - Baumberg, Jeremy J.

PY - 2019/11/22

Y1 - 2019/11/22

N2 - Quantitative applications of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) often rely on surface partition layers grafted to SERS substrates to collect and trap solvated analytes that would not otherwise adsorb onto metals. Such binding layers drastically broaden the scope of analytes that can be probed. However, excess binding sites introduced by this partition layer also trap analytes outside the plasmonic †hot-spots'. We show that by eliminating these binding sites, limits of detection (LODs) can effectively be lowered by more than an order of magnitude. We highlight the effectiveness of this approach by demonstrating quantitative detection of controlled drugs down to sub-nanomolar concentrations in aqueous media. Such LODs are low enough to screen, for example, urine at clinically relevant levels. These findings provide unique insights into the binding behavior of analytes, which are essential when designing high performance SERS substrates.

AB - Quantitative applications of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) often rely on surface partition layers grafted to SERS substrates to collect and trap solvated analytes that would not otherwise adsorb onto metals. Such binding layers drastically broaden the scope of analytes that can be probed. However, excess binding sites introduced by this partition layer also trap analytes outside the plasmonic †hot-spots'. We show that by eliminating these binding sites, limits of detection (LODs) can effectively be lowered by more than an order of magnitude. We highlight the effectiveness of this approach by demonstrating quantitative detection of controlled drugs down to sub-nanomolar concentrations in aqueous media. Such LODs are low enough to screen, for example, urine at clinically relevant levels. These findings provide unique insights into the binding behavior of analytes, which are essential when designing high performance SERS substrates.

KW - SERS

KW - THC

KW - drug detection

KW - nanoparticles

KW - self-assembly

KW - spice

KW - synthetic cannabinoids

KW - tetrahydrocannabinol

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073078670&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acssensors.9b01484

DO - 10.1021/acssensors.9b01484

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85073078670

VL - 4

SP - 2988

EP - 2996

JO - ACS Sensors

JF - ACS Sensors

IS - 11

ER -