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Nitrites (NO2− ions) in food and drink play an important role in human health but require complicated operations before detection. Herein, we present a rationally designed SERS-enabled micro-chamber that comprised a drawn glass capillary with a tiny orifice (∼50 μm) at the distal tip, wherein the gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are compactly coated on the inner wall surface. In this chamber, nitrites specifically trigger a pH and laser irradiance-dependent diazotization starting from p-aminothiophenol (PATP) absorbed onto the surface of Au NPs to form p,p′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) molecules, in which the presence of NO2− ions above 30.7 μM (1.38 ppm) in the siphoned liquid sample can be identified relying on SERS peak (1141 cm−1) intensity of the emerging azo moiety. Except for pH conditions, laser irradiance is more important but easily neglected in previous studies, which is capable of preventing generation of errors when the detection sensitivity was pursued through increasing the laser power. In this case, several real samples (rather than simple water samples), including honey, pickled vegetable and fermented bean curd, had been successfully detected accurately through such a convenient sampling micro-chamber. The SERS-enabled device could potentially be facilely incorporated with portable Raman instruments for a special application of food inspection in rapid and field analysis of NO2− ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on a continuous and non-invasive approach in vivo to monitor arterial blood pH based on the laser trapping and Raman detection of single live erythrocytes. A home-built confocal laser tweezers Raman system (LTRS) is applied to trace the live erythrocytes at different pH values of the extracellular environment to record their corresponding Raman changes in vitro and in vivo. The analysis results in vitro show that when the extracellular environment pH changes from 6.5 to 9.0, the Raman intensity ratio (R1603, 1616 = I1603/I1616) of single erythrocytes decrease regularly; what is more, there is a good linear relationship between these two variables, and the linearity is 0.985, which is also verified successfully via in vivo Raman measurements. These results demonstrate that the Raman signal of single live erythrocytes is possible as a marker of the extracellular pH value. This in vivo and quantitative Raman-pH sensor of arterial blood will be an important candidate for monitoring the acid–base status during the treatment of ill patients and in some major surgeries because of its continuous and non-invasive characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a new and efficient protocol for rapid electrodeposition of a gold–Prussian blue ((Au–PB)REd) nanocomposite with ultrahigh electroactivity on an Au electrode by cyclic voltammetry in 0.1 M aqueous K2SO4 containing 1 mM K3Fe(CN)6, 1 mM HAuCl4, and 0.1 mM Fe2(SO4)3, and an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance and scanning electron microscopy were utilized to investigate the electrodeposition. The (Au–PB)REd/Au electrode was then cast-coated with a urate oxidase (UOx)–poly(anilineboronic acid) (PABA)–Pt nanoparticle (PtNP) bionanocomposite and chitosan (CS) for high-performance amperometric biosensing of uric acid (UA) in the dual-potential mode. The UOx–PABA–PtNP bionanocomposite was prepared through chemical oxidation of anilineboronic acid (ABA) by sodium chloroplatinate in the presence of UOx. The thus-fabricated CS/UOx–PABA–PtNP/(Au–PB)REd/Au enzyme electrode worked well under optimized conditions through both oxidation and reduction determination of enzyme-generated H2O2, which responded linearly to UA concentrations from 0.3 μM to 0.65 mM with a sensitivity of 223 μA mM−1 cm−2 and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.2 μM (0.7 V vs. SCE), and from 0.2 μM to 0.25 mM with a sensitivity of 247 μA mM−1 cm−2 and a LOD of 0.1 μM (−0.05 V vs. SCE), being superior to most analogues hitherto reported for biosensing of UA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laser-based refractive index detection, based upon refractive index changes in micro-channels, is a kind of laser-based optical determination for solutions. As it is capable of label-free determination, it has been regarded as a considerable growth prospect. The key aspect in related researches lay in the development of novel detection configurations, which would possibly result in better sensitivity. Over the past decade, micro-channel laser-based refractive index detection has been significantly improved, resulting in traversed, hologram-based, back-scattered, retro-reflected interference, optical ring resonant, etc., detection configurations. Moreover, laser-based refractive index detection has been combined with other laser-based detection strategies, in order to pursue a universal and sensitive detection. And last but not least, some utilizations of laser-based refractive index detection have been reported, while both advantages and drawbacks exist. In this paper, laser-based refractive index detection for micro-channels will be reviewed in proceeding sequence.