Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026
05:28
Versatile Technique to Produce a Hierarchical Design in Nanoporous Gold
Published on: February 10, 2023
2.2K
Size-Controllable Gold Nanopores with High SERS Activity.
Hai-Ling Liu1, Jiao Cao1, Sumaira Hanif1
1State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, China.
Analytical Chemistry
|August 31, 2017
Summary
Researchers developed novel gold nanoporous spheres (GPS) for advanced protein analysis. These GPS structures enable precise nanopore sizing and offer combined ionic current rectification and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for enhanced detection capabilities.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biophysics
Background:
- Nanopore sequencing advances DNA analysis but struggles with complex protein identification.
- Current methods for protein analysis using nanopores are limited by ionic current fluctuations.
- There is a need for size-controllable nanopores with optical activity for enhanced protein structural information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel nanopore structures with optical activity for improved protein sequencing.
- To investigate the properties of self-assembled gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for nanopore applications.
- To explore the potential of gold nanoporous spheres (GPS) for simultaneous ionic current and SERS analysis.
Main Methods:
- Self-assembly of 7 ± 1 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to form gold nanoporous spheres (GPS) on glass capillaries.
- Controlled nanopore formation using different dithiol linker molecules (C3, C6, C9).
- Characterization of nanopore size, ionic current rectification, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity.
Main Results:
- Reproducible nanopore sizes (around 5.1 nm) were achieved using varying linker lengths.
- GPS nanostructures demonstrated high ionic current rectification even in high electrolyte concentrations (290 mM).
- Significant SERS enhancement factors (>1 × 10^5) were observed due to nanopores and 'hot spots' within the GPS.
Conclusions:
- The developed GPS nanostructures offer a promising platform for advanced molecular detection.
- GPS exhibits dual functionality: ionic current rectification and SERS activity.
- Successful application of GPS for SERS-based detection of glutathione from a single HeLa cell demonstrates its potential in biological sensing.
