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Ultra-sensitive detection of uranyl ions with a specially designed high-efficiency SERS-based microfluidic device

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Abstract

The uranyl ion (UO22+) poses high risks to human health and the environment, hence its detection and monitoring is of utmost significance. However, the development of an ultra-sensitive, high-efficiency and convenient approach for on-site detection of UO22+ remains a challenge. Herein, a reliable and reusable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based microfluidic biosensor was developed for rapid detection of UO22+ in real samples. The detection protocol involved the reaction of 5′-Rhodamine B (RhB)-labeled double-stranded DNA for UO22+-specific DNAzyme-cleavage reaction in a U-shaped microchannel. Then, the reaction products were delivered into three parallel samples for high-throughput tests by SERS biochips, where 3D ZnO-Ag mesoporous nanosheet arrays (MNSs) were modified with a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). The ssDNA was sequence-complementary with the 5′-RhB-labeled cleaved-stranded DNA (csDNA) from the reaction products. By the hybridization of ssDNA and csDNA, the signal probe RhB was fixed close to the surface of the ZnO-Ag MNSs to enhance the Raman signal. The limit of detection for UO22+ with the microfluidic-SERS biosensor was 3.71×10−15 M. An over 20,000-fold selectivity towards UO22+ response was also achieved in the presence of 15 other metal ions. The high-throughput microfluidic-SERS biosensor operated well for practical UO22+ detection, with excellent recoveries in contaminated river and tap water from 95.2% to 106.3% (relative standard deviation (RSD) <6.0%, n=6). Although the SERS-based microfluidic biosensor developed in this study was deployed for the detection of UO22+, the reusable and high-efficiency system may be expanded to the detection of other analytes on-site.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science Challenge Project (TZ2018004), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21502179).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China

    Xuan He & Xiaolin Wang

  2. Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

    Xuan He & Yu Liu

  3. Institute of Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621907, China

    Shaofei Wang

  4. China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang, 621900, China

    Xiaolin Wang

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  1. Xuan He
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  2. Shaofei Wang
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  3. Yu Liu
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  4. Xiaolin Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaolin Wang.

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He, X., Wang, S., Liu, Y. et al. Ultra-sensitive detection of uranyl ions with a specially designed high-efficiency SERS-based microfluidic device. Sci. China Chem. 62, 1064–1071 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9468-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9468-x

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