Photochemical Synthesis of Porous CuFeSe₂/Au Heterostructured Nanospheres as SERS Sensor for Ultrasensitive Detection of Lung Cancer Cells and Their Biomarkers

Abstract

Rapid and sensitive identification of tumor biomarker or cancer cells in their nascent stage based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is still an attractive challenge due to the low molecular affinity for the metal surface, the complexity of the sample, and low-efficiency use of hot spots in one- or two-dimensional geometries. Here, we demonstrated a novel kind of renewable CuFeSe2/Au heterostructured nanospheres that are hierarchically porous for specific and sensitive detection of lung cancer biomarkers of aldehydes and lung cancer cells. The heterostructured nanospheres were constructed by loading an Au shell formed by photoreduction on the CuFeSe2 frameworks. P-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) as a Raman-active probe molecule was first grafted on CuFeSe2/Au nanospheres, and then the gaseous aldehyde molecules were sensitively bonded onto the nanospheres by formation of a CN bond with a detection limit of 1.0 ppb. Moreover, the resulting folic acid (FA)-conjugated nanospheres have a high SERS activity to Rhodamine B isothiocyanate (RBITC), which can be used to specifically recognize and sensitively detect the A549 cells. Our study suggested that the synthesized renewable CuFeSe2/Au heterostructured nanospheres as a multimodal platform could find a wide range of applications in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and environmental sciences.

Plasmonic Biosensors for the Detection of Lung Cancer Biomarkers: A Review

“…Zhang et al improved the absorptivity of lung cancer-related VOC aldehyde by creating a dendritic Ag nanocrystal characterised by numerous cavity traps that increase the reaction time of the gaseous molecules on the surface of solid surface through the "cavity-vortex" effect [128]. In another development, novel and renewable hierarchical porous CuFeSe 2 /Au heterostructure nanospheres were employed in specific and sensitive aldehydes down to 1 ppb [129]. The nanospheres in this case also possess many cavity traps, enabling the gaseous aldehydes to undergo the "cavity vortex effect," which consequently prolongs the reaction time of the gas on the surface.…”

“…The nanospheres in this case also possess many cavity traps, enabling the gaseous aldehydes to undergo the "cavity vortex effect," which consequently prolongs the reaction time of the gas on the surface. Moreover, the heterostructure nanosphere features excellent photocatalytic cleaning performance and could provide efficient renewable properties [129].…”

Real-Time Detection of Phenylacetaldehyde in Wine: Application of a Microwave Sensor Based on Molecularly Imprinted Silica

“…Several sensors were developed to detect phenylacetaldehyde. They can be classified into two categories: biosensors [ 2 , 3 ] or chemical sensors [ 4 , 5 ]. Biosensors use a biomolecule as sensitive material; they are highly selective but not very stable in extreme conditions of pH or temperature.…”

Ultrasensitive detection of vitamin E by signal conversion combined with core-satellite structure-based plasmon coupling effect

“…[9][10][11] To achieve the goal of ultra-sensitively detecting and monitoring biomarkers, a promising alternative detection approach has been developed with the aim of amplifying the detectable signal via adopting innovative and powerful signal generation tags. [12][13][14][15] Recently, several sensing schemes, such as photoelectron chemical (PEC) assays, 16,17 resonance light scattering (RLS) technology, [18][19][20][21] and SERS, have been investigated to obtain the target molecular information. [22][23][24] Among all of them, with the surface plasmon phenomena of noble metal nanostructures, SERS is considered the most ideal technique that provides fingerprint vibrational information with ultrahigh sensitivity, specificity, and anti-interference capability.…”