Biomimetic Nano-Pine-Pollen Structure-Based Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Sensing Platform for the Hypersensitive Detection of Toxicants: Cadmium and Amyloid
Woong Kim, Wonseok Lee, Hyunjun Park, Joohyung Park, Joohyung Park, Woochang Kim, Byungjeon Kang, Eunpyo Choi, Chang‐Sei Kim, Jong‐Oh Park, Jong‐Oh Park, Gyudo Lee, Doyeon Bang, Jinsung Park, Jinsung Park
Abstract
In the field of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors, biomimetic micro/nanostructures have been fabricated to improve sensing performance. In this study, we developed a biomimetic nano-pine-pollen nanostructure (NPP-NS)-based SERS sensing platform that enables the hypersensitive detection of toxicants, such as toxic heavy metal ions and amyloid-β oligomers. The secondary gold nanostructures of NPP-NS were formed on the silver nanostructure through a galvanic replacement reaction, which increased the surface area and created electromagnetic hotspots, enhancing the SERS responses. Specifically, NPP-NS exhibited the most effective SERS performance with an analytical enhancement factor of 3.86 × 1013. Through experimental analysis and computational simulations, NPP-NS was optimized as a SERS sensing platform. Additionally, the sensing performance of NPP-NS was consistently highly stable for several days without structural oxidative degradation, despite being in the harsh oxidation state, owing to the secondary gold nanostructure. Moreover, we utilized the NPP-NS SERS sensor for biosensor applications capable of detecting toxicants, such as cadmium ions and amyloid-β oligomers with a detection limit of up to 10 pM, in drinking water and human plasma samples, respectively. As a pilot study, the biomimetic NPP-NS could be used as a hypersensitive SERS sensing platform to detect other biological and chemical toxicants.