Three-Dimensional Ribbon-Like Gold Nanoparticle Assemblies on MXene for Detection of Creatinine by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Lin Chen ¹, Dong Yang ², Wanlin Wang ³

⁰NHC Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Control, School of Tropical Medicine, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan, China.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences +

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October 6, 2025

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

New MXene and gold nanoparticle substrates enable ultrasensitive creatinine detection. This advancement is crucial for accurate renal function assessment and disease monitoring in clinical diagnostics.

Area Of Science

Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Analytical Chemistry

Background

Creatinine is a key biomarker for assessing renal function.
Accurate and efficient creatinine detection is vital for clinical diagnosis and disease monitoring.
MXene and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) offer synergistic properties for ultrasensitive detection via surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS).

Purpose Of The Study

To develop novel SERS substrates for ultrasensitive creatinine detection.
To investigate the performance of MXene-based substrates functionalized with different gold nanoparticle configurations.
To establish a sensitive and rapid method for creatinine detection in aqueous solutions.

Main Methods

Large-scale production of ultrathin Ti3C2-MXene films via interfacial self-assembly.
Assembly of a uniform AuNP monolayer and 3D ribbon-like AuNP assemblies (RAuNPs) on MXene surfaces.
Characterization of SERS activity using Rhodamine 6G (R6G) and evaluation of creatinine detection performance.

Main Results

Two SERS substrates, AuNPs/MXene and RAuNPs/MXene, were successfully fabricated.
The AuNPs/MXene substrate detected creatinine in the range of 1 × 10⁻⁴ to 1 × 10⁻⁸ M with a LOD of 287 nM.
The RAuNPs/MXene substrate demonstrated superior performance, detecting creatinine from 1 × 10⁻³ to 1 × 10⁻¹⁰ M with a LOD of 2.64 nM.

Conclusions

The RAuNPs/MXene substrate exhibits outstanding SERS properties for creatinine detection.
This developed substrate holds significant promise for rapid and highly sensitive clinical diagnostics of renal function.
The study highlights the potential of tailored MXene-AuNP nanostructures for advanced sensing applications.

Keywords:

MXene creatinine detection interfacial self‐assembly ribbon‐like gold nanoparticle assemblies surface‐enhanced Raman scattering