1 research outputs found
Ultrasensitive Au Nanooctahedron Micropinball Sensor for Mercury Ions
Mercury
ion (Hg<sup>2+</sup>) is one of the most toxic heavy metals that has
severe adverse effects on the environment and human organs even at
very low concentrations. Therefore, highly sensitive and selective
detection of Hg<sup>2+</sup> is desirable. Here, we introduce plasmonic
micropinball constructed from Au nanooctahedron as a three-dimensional
surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platform, enabling ultrasensitive
detection of trace Hg<sup>2+</sup> ions. Typically, strong SERS signals
could be obtained when the single-stranded DNA structure converts
to the hairpin structure in the presence of Hg<sup>2+</sup> ions,
due to the formation of thymine (T)–Hg<sup>2+</sup>–T.
As a result, the detection limit of Hg<sup>2+</sup> ions is as low
as 1 × 10<sup>–16</sup> M, which is far below compared
to that reported for conventional analytical strategies. Moreover,
to achieve rapid multiple detection, we combine the micropinball sensors
with microflow tube online detection. Our platform prevents cross-talk
and tube contamination, allowing multiassay analysis, rapid identification,
and quantification of different analytes and concentrations across
separate phases