Issue 19, 2021, Issue in Progress

Silver nanoparticle on zinc oxide array for label-free detection of opioids through surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Opioid abuse is a significant public health problem. Over two million Americans have some form of addiction to opioids; however, despite governmental programs established to treat overdoses and restrict opioid distribution, there are still few screening tools that are quantitative, portable and easy to use for high-throughput mapping and monitoring this ongoing crisis. In this paper, we demonstrated a plasmonic zinc oxide (ZnO) arrays-on-silicon sensor for the label-free detection of opioids through surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and evaluated the chips' opioid sensing performance. Specifically, we tested our device with oxycodone, a potent and commonly abused opioid, dissolved in methanol and blood serum as a proof-of-concept study. Ag particles were in situ patterned onto the ZnO array to form the completed sensing platform. The resulting Ag@ZnO arrays were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDS), and element mapping. In addition, the enhanced electric field induced by the localized surface plasmonic resonance at the Ag particle decorated ZnO is simulated using COMSOL. Opioid-containing samples at varying concentrations, from 900 μg mL−1 to 90 ng mL−1 were tested using SERS to characterize the chip's accuracy and sensitivity. We demonstrated that the sensor can reliably detect opioid concentrations as low as 90 ng mL−1 with great accuracy and sensitivity even spiked into blood serum. The chips could provide a cost-effective, high-throughput method for detecting opiate oxycodone, thereby providing a powerful tool to monitor and control the emerging public health threats.

Graphical abstract: Silver nanoparticle on zinc oxide array for label-free detection of opioids through surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Jan 2021
Accepted
03 Mar 2021
First published
17 Mar 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2021,11, 11329-11337

Silver nanoparticle on zinc oxide array for label-free detection of opioids through surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

M. Zhang, C. Jin, Y. Nie, Y. Ren, N. Hao, Z. Xu, L. Dong and J. X. J. Zhang, RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 11329 DOI: 10.1039/D1RA00760B

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