Rapid and ultrasensitive solution-based SERS detection of drug additives in aquaculture by using polystyrene sulfonate modified gold nanobipyramids.

In recent years, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been widely used in various fields for the rapid detection of trace-level molecular targets. In this study, we have developed a simple and effective solution-based SERS protocol to improve the activity for the detection of cationic dye molecules in aquaculture. The polystyrene sulfonate functionalized gold nanobipyramids (PSS-Au BPs) were synthesized from the cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) reaction system followed by the ligand exchange process. The halide ions-induced aggregation of PSS-Au BPs was carried out by using four type of different salts such as NaCl, NaBr, MgCl2 and MgSO4 to investigate their influence on the SERS activity. The results demonstrate that the ionic strength of the solution has an important impact on the colloidal stability and SERS activity. The PSS-Au BPs show an improved SERS sensitivity at lower concentrations of the aggregating agents in solution-based SERS by detecting the crystal violet (CV) molecules with a limit of detection (LOD) to 3.28 × 10-11 M. Furthermore, to demonstrate the generality of our proposed strategy, trace amounts of three more dyes such as malachite green (MG), methylene blue (MB), and rhodamine 6G (R-6G), as well as other molecules such as thiram and bisphenol-S were also detected. This protocol not only provides a method for rapid on-site detection of trace-level molecules but can also be applied to other SERS-based analysis.

Mesoporous gold nanoparticles for photothermal controlled anticancer drug delivery.

Aim: To realize the transit and release of cancer drug exactly as well as high drug loading ratio, we reported a biocompatible and temperature responsive controlled drug delivery system based on 3D mesoporous structured Au networks. Materials & methods: Here, we filled the hollow interiors of Au networks with a phase-change material so that the drug release was easily regulated by controlling the temperature only. Results: Thanks to the high near-infrared reflectance absorbance and mesoporous structure, the Au-PEG + lauric acid/doxorubicin system showed a strong photothermal conversion efficiency, high drug-loading ratio (54.2% for doxorubicin) and controlled drug release. Conclusion: This system revealed great advantages in photothermal therapy and chemotherapy, offering an obvious synergistic effect in cancer treatment.

Sub-100 nm hollow Au-Ag alloy urchin-shaped nanostructure with ultrahigh density of nanotips for photothermal cancer therapy.

The 'sea urchin'-like nanostructures with particular small size (<100 nm) and abundant multi-tips have not yet been employed for the cancer photothermal therapy (PTT). Here we report sub-100 nm hollow Au-Ag alloy nanourchins (HAAA-NUs) with ultrahigh density of nanotips synthesized via a facile seed-mediated growth. The HAAA-NUs exhibit a remarkably integrated high-quality photothermal feature including well-defined but tunable surface plasmon resonance peak, strong absorption (2.2 × 10(10) M(-1) cm(-1)) as well as high photothermal conversion efficiency (80.4%) in the near-infrared region. Importantly, the HAAA-NUs demonstrate improved photothermal stability verified via continuous exposition and cyclic irradiation of laser beam. The cell assay, in vitro cell ablation and in vivo breast cancer treatment verify that the HAAA-NUs are superior photothermal agent for photothermal tumor ablation therapy owing to low toxicity and high cell destruction capability.

Highly sensitive, uniform, and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy from hollow Au-Ag alloy nanourchins.

A hierarchical nanoparticle strategy to simultaneously gain super Raman signal amplification, high uniformity, and reproducibility is presented. Using hollow Au-Ag alloy nanourchins, an ultrahigh sensitivity, e.g., down to 1 fM concentrations for DEHP molecule is obtained. A small standard deviation of <10% is achieved by simply dropping and evaporating sub-100 nm nanourchins onto a substrate.