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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancements and Applications in Nanoparticle Synthesis Through Laser Ablation in Liquids
Published on: June 16, 2023
Synthesis of Au@Ag core-shell nanostructures with a poly(3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine) interlayer for
Haibin Wen1, Peichun Jiang1, Yuling Hu2
1School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Poly(3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine) (polyDOPA) is a stable and biocompatible reducing agent. A versatile strategy is described here for the synthesis of core-shell Au@Ag nanostructures containing a polyDOPA interlayer. The latter provides abundant sites for deposition of nanocomposites, to immobilize molecules and to grow shells. The Au@polyDOPA@Ag nanoparticles are shown to generate strong and stable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) signals compared to bare AuNPs and bare AgNPs. Folic acid was then immobilized on Au@polyDOPA@Ag nanoparticles and then applied to SERS imaging of human lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 by the specific recognition of the folic acid receptor. The folic acid-conjugated SERS tags were promising to be nanoplatforms for imaging of cancer cells. Graphical abstract An Au@Ag core-shell nanostructures SERS nanotag with a polyDOPA interlayer was fabricated and then applied to SERS imaging of epithelial cells. (DOPA: 3,4-Dihydroxy-[L-phenylalanine]; FA: folic acid; 4-MBA: 4-mercaptobenzoic acid).
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