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Plasmonic nanoparticles are an emerging tool for developing label-free multicolorimetric sensors for biosensing and chemosensing applications. The color absorbed by nanoparticles from visible light is influenced by their size, shape, orientation, and interparticle distance. Differently sized and shaped gold and silver nanoparticles exhibit a wide range of colors, aiding in the development of label-free sensors. Etching is the process of oxidizing nanoparticles, which alters their aspect ratio, shape, plasmonic peak, and outward appearance. It is typically used to create sensitive sensing platforms. Through etching, analytes could be detected in a simple, sensitive, and selective manner. The multicolor readout of nanoparticle etching-based multicolorimetric sensors can overcome the limitations of conventional colorimetric assays and improve the accuracy of visual inspection. This review discusses different approaches for target sensing using nanoparticle etching strategies like direct etching, enzyme-mediated etching, chemical reaction-driven etching, and anti-etching-based sensors and their mechanisms. In the future, etching strategies could be modified into portable sensing devices to detect a variety of analytes, which will aid in the development of on-time, in situ, and point-of-care sensing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensing not only depends on an active substrate with high density of hot spots, but also depends more on whether the molecules can effectively enter the hot spot region. In this paper, a new SERS detection method based on the nano nest model is developed to autonomously capture molecules into hot spots. The nano nest is composed of silver nanowires modified with gold nanoparticles (Ag NW@Au NPs), which not only form high density hot spots between particles or particles-wires, but also have a coupled electromagnetic field enhancement effect. The SERS detection method based nano nest actively traps molecules through the capillary stage, and makes the molecules move toward densely stacked small gaps (hot spots) by capillary action. The above method has been used to detect different kinds of molecules, such as pesticide residues, adenosine triphosphate in culture medium, and antibiotic residues in aquatic products. In addition, an in situ SERS monitoring of allergic reactions was also performed using nano nests with the feature of actively trapping molecules into the hot spots. This nano nest will be able to perform a direct monitoring of biochemical reactions, and more importantly, it can provide a new scheme for SERS detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triphenyltin chloride (TPhT) is an organotin compound that causes intensive toxicological risk to the environment and humans. A detection method with high sensitivity and stability is therefore desired to better detect TPhT. In this study, a novel SERS substrate was prepared by sputtering an ultra-thin Au layer on a honeycomb-like silver nanoarray fabricated via the nanosphere lithography method. The ultra-thin Au layer was formed by sputtering the intermittent Au nanoparticles on the silver nanoarray, resulting in bimetallic coupling with dramatically increased hotspots and extremely high SERS enhancement with an analytical enhancement factor (AEF) of 6.08 × 109 using Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as the probe molecule. Based on density functional theory (DFT) simulations, the Raman characteristic peaks of TPhT at 999 cm−1 and 655 cm−1 were selected for TPhT detection. The AEF of the SERS substrate HC5-AgAu was calculated to be 3.38 × 106 with the detection concentration of TPhT down to 10−10 M. The as-prepared honeycomb-like silver–gold bimetallic SERS substrate demonstrated great stability and sensitivity for TPhT detection, which might also be applied in monitoring many other environmental pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To prevent the transmission of brucellosis, rapid vertical flow technology (RVFT) was developed to detect brucellosis antibodies. To improve the sensitivity of the technique, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were purified and used to detect brucellosis antibodies. To improve the sensitivity of serum antibody detection, a single multifunctional buffer was established in whole blood and other biological samples, and the advantages of the lateral flow immunoassay were retained. Flower-like gold nanoparticles were applied to RVFT for the first time. In this study, silver ions were catalyzed by flower-like gold nanoparticles into metal silver deposited on the surface of gold nanoparticles for the first time, which not only increased the particle size of gold nanoparticles, but also showed a more distinguishable black color on the test zone, further improving the sensitivity of RVFT. Standard Brucella-positive serum (containing Brucella antibody at 4000 IU mL-1) could be detected in this system even for a dilution factor of 2 x 10-3. The detection limit was 2 IU mL-1. RVFT can effectively avoid the false negative phenomenon in lateral flow immunoassay. RVFT is simple to operate, with a short reaction time, 2-3 minutes visible to the naked eye, without any equipment. Because it is very important to control the brucellosis epidemic, this approach has great application prospects in basic medical units and for veterinarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contact distance between mitochondria (Mito) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has received considerable attention owing to their crucial function in maintaining lipid and calcium homeostasis. Herein, cubic spline algorithm-based depth-dependent fluorescence-free three-dimensional light-sheet super-resolution microscopy (3D LSRM) with dual-wavelength illumination sources was investigated to study the distance of Mito–ER contacts in various live cells. To detect wavelength-dependent scattering, 12 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and 20 nm silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as fluorescence-free nanoprobes were conjugated with Mito and ER. The cubic spline algorithm-based method showed improved localization precision in lateral and axial directions compared with that for previously used least squares and least cubic algorithms. The cubic spline-based depth-dependent localization was applied to the spatial localization of nanoprobes in super-resolution images, in which the average distance of Mito and ER was 22.4 nm in HeLa cells, 22.2 nm in RAW264.7 macrophage cells, 21.9 nm in AGS cells, 21.4 nm in HT29 cells, and 21.3 nm in HEK293 cells. The distances were ∼12% larger than those previously determined by electron microscopy, which demonstrated that this method was accessible and reliable for studying the intracellular structures of various live cells at the subdiffraction limit resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review article, we discuss surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) studies of hemeproteins such as myoglobin, hemoglobin, and cytochrome on various metal substrates; for example, colloidal silver nanoparticles coated with and without self-assembled monolayers (SAM), a roughened silver electrode protected with and without SAM, a sharp silver tip, and colloidal gold nanoparticles coated with and without SAM. Moreover, we classify the studies in terms of an excitation wavelength; namely, excitation at the B- (Soret) band, Q- (α and β) band, and in the near infrared (NIR) range. In the SERRS studies with B band excitation, it has been shown that the hemeprotein on a silver surface takes a non-native form through detachment from the heme pocket in the protein. With Q band excitation, on the other hand, the change in SERRS has been explained by the orientation of the hemeprotein on the surface. Even by excitation in the NIR range, the peak positions are consistent with the assignment of the major vibrational modes of heme despite there being no resonance Raman effect. Thus, the SERRS of hemeproteins is influenced by a resonance Raman effect, LSPR, and interactions with the metal surface such as structural changes, orientation, and selective adsorption. Moreover, we discuss how SERRS has been applied to complicated biological systems such as living cells containing hemeprotein. For mitochondria, a change of the oxidation-state was observed by the electron transport chain in the cell and at different positions. As an example of a biomedical application of SERRS, the sensitive detection of malaria is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifunctional composite nanoprobes consisting of iron oxide nanoparticles linked to silver and gold nanoparticles, Ag–Magnetite and Au–Magnetite, respectively, were introduced by endocytic uptake into cultured fibroblast cells. The cells containing the non-toxic nanoprobes were shown to be displaceable in an external magnetic field and can be manipulated in microfluidic channels. The distribution of the composite nanostructures that are contained in the endosomal system is discussed on the basis of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) mapping, quantitative laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) micromapping, and cryo soft X-ray tomography (cryo soft-XRT). Cryo soft-XRT of intact, vitrified cells reveals that the composite nanoprobes form intra-endosomal aggregates. The nanoprobes provide SERS signals from the biomolecular composition of their surface in the endosomal environment. The SERS data indicate the high stability of the nanoprobes and of their plasmonic properties in the harsh environment of endosomes and lysosomes. The spectra point at the molecular composition at the surface of the Ag–Magnetite and Au–Magnetite nanostructures that is very similar to that of other composite structures, but different from the composition of pure silver and gold SERS nanoprobes used for intracellular investigations. As shown by the LA-ICP-MS data, the uptake efficiency of the magnetite composites is approximately two to three times higher than that of the pure gold and silver nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new sensitive electrochemical sensor for the detection of copper ions based on the copper ion assisted etching of Au@Ag nanoparticles was developed in this work. Since copper ions could greatly catalyze the etching process of the silver shell of Au@Ag nanoparticles in the presence of thiosulfate solutions, leading to an obvious decrease of the linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) signals of silver, the concentration of the copper ions, therefore, can be measured. Under the optimized conditions, the electrochemical sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity and selectivity for Cu2+, with wide linear ranges of 1 nM to 100 μM, and the detection limit of 0.3 nM. In addition, this method was successfully applied for the analysis of Cu2+ in river water and exhibited good analytical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive uptake of NO2− is detrimental to human health, but the currently available methods used to sensitively detect this ion in the environment are cumbersome and expensive. In this study, we developed an improved NO2− detection system based on a redox etching strategy of CTAB-stabilized Ag–Au core–shell nanoparticles (Ag@AuNPs). The detection mechanism was verified by UV-Vis spectroscopy, TEM and XPS. The detection system produces a color change from purple to colorless in response to an increase of NO2− concentration. The selectivity of detection of NO2−, both with the unaided eye and by measurement of UV-Vis spectra, is excellent in relation to other ions, including Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cr3+, Al3+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Ca2+, Ba2+, Zn2+, Mn2+, Mg2+, Fe3+, Hg2+, Ag+, K+, F−, PO43−, C2O42−, SO32−, CO32−, SO42−, NO3− and CH3–COO− (Ac−). The limit of detection (LOD) for NO2− is 1.0 μM by eye and 0.1 μM by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The LOD by eye is lower than the lowest previously reported value (4.0 μM). There is a good linear relationship between A/A0 and the concentration of NO2− from 1.0 to 20.0 μM NO2−, which permits a quantitative assay. The applicability of our detection system was also verified by analysis of NO2− in tap water and lake water. The results demonstrate that our Ag@AuNP-based detection system can be used for the rapid colorimetric detection of NO2− in complex environmental samples, with excellent selectivity and high sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the syntheses of crystalline silver and gold nanoparticles (NPs) has been demonstrated in a green and environmentally friendly approach using citrus fruit extracts (lemon, Citrus limon (Cl-1) and sweet orange, Citrus limetta (Cl-2)). In addition, potentially hazardous metal ion sensing properties of these NPs in aqueous solution has been explored. Cl-1 and Cl-2 that predominantly contained citric and ascorbic acid, exhibited different reducing abilities towards silver and gold ions into NPs. Cl-1 reduces silver ions into AgNPs only in the presence of sunlight whereas AuNPs from gold ions were formed without exposure to sunlight. In contrast, Cl-2 converts both silver and gold ions into the corresponding NPs in the absence of sunlight. The colorimetric sensor studies of these green synthesized AgNPs (Cl-1–AgNPs) showed selective sensing of the potentially hazardous Hg2+ ion in water at micromolar concentrations. More importantly, green synthesized Cl-1–AgNPs sensor systems detected Hg2+ ions in water in a wide pH range (3.2 to 8.5). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark field resonant light scattering by gold and silver nanoparticles enables the detection and spectroscopy of such particles with high sensitivity, down to the single-particle level, and can be used to implement miniaturised optical detection schemes for chemical and biological analysis. Here, we present a straightforward optical spectroscopic methodology for the quantitative spectrometric study of resonant light scattering (RLS) by nanoparticles. RLS spectroscopy is complementary to UV-visible absorbance measurements, and we apply it to the characterisation and comparison of different types of gold, silver and gold–silver alloy nanoparticles. The potential of gold and silver particles as alternatives for fluorescent probes in certain applications is discussed. RLS spectroscopy is shown to be useful for studying analyte-induced gold nanoparticle assembly and nanoparticle chemistry, which can induce radical changes in the plasmonic resonances responsible for the strong light scattering. Furthermore, the feasibility of dark field RLS detection and quantitation of metal nanoparticles in microfluidic volumes is demonstrated, opening interesting possibilities for the further development of microfluidic detection schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we present a supramolecular non-covalent approach for the modification of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and silver nanoparticles (SNPs) with porphyrin derivatives. The immobilization of porphyrin derivatives was carried out by two different procedures of ionic interaction. The first one was direct immobilization of the conjugate on nanoparticles and the second one was immobilization of the conjugate on 3-mercaptopropanoic acid (MPA) premodified gold nanoparticles. Such modified nanoparticles were used for interactions with selected oxoanions. The interactions were studied by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and electronic circular dichroism. The results showed a dependence of interaction with oxoanions on the immobilization procedures of porphyrin derivatives on the nanoparticle surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]