Nanohoop anchored plasmonic surfaces for polarity-dependent ultrasensitive sensing

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Food Safety

Background:

• Plasticizers, such as di-butyl phthalate (DBP), are common contaminants in edible oils, posing significant food safety risks.
• Existing analytical methods for detecting trace-level plasticizers often require complex sample preparation and lack sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, sensitive, and reliable analytical technique for detecting plasticizer contamination in edible oils.
• To create a high-performance substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to improve detection limits.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a superhydrophobic cyclic conjugated aromatic thiophene-triazole nanohoop (TTN) [4 + 4] substrate.
• Anchoring plasmonic silver nanoparticles onto the TTN substrate to form TTN@AgNPs.
• Utilizing SERS for the detection and quantification of di-butyl phthalate (DBP) in edible vegetable oil.

Main Results:

• The TTN@AgNPs substrate demonstrated exceptional sensitivity for DBP detection, reaching a limit of 20 parts per billion (ppb).
• The substrate's porous surface, enriched with nitrogen and sulfur, enhanced electron density, AgNP binding, and hot spot formation, leading to superior performance.
• Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed the selective detection mechanism of DBP by TTN@AgNPs.

Conclusions:

• The developed TTN@AgNPs SERS substrate offers a highly sensitive and selective method for detecting DBP in edible oils.
• This advancement contributes to improved food safety by providing a tool for identifying and quantifying plasticizer contamination.
• The study lays the groundwork for future research on contaminant detection in various food matrices and packaging materials using SERS.