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A microfluidic chip based on an ITO support modified with Ag-Au nanocomposites for SERS based determination of melamine

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Abstract

This article describes a microfluidic SERS chip-based rapid and high-throughput method for the determination of chemical and biological analytes, specifically of melamine. The chip consists of an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass plate modified with silver-gold nanocomposites (Ag-Au NCs) and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) cover plate. The chip has five parallel microfluidic channels. The ITO glass provides electrical conductivity and has a smooth surface which makes it well suited for the deposition of the Ag-Au NC by electrodeposition and galvanic replacement. This technique allows good control of the morphology and composition of the composite. Under optimized conditions, the microfluidic SERS chip provides excellent sensitivity for 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA). The detection limit is 0.1 nM and the SERS enhancement factor is 2.7×1010. The chip exhibits good stability over time and good reproducibility, with a RSD of 8.6 % between the 5 micro-channels. The chip was successfully applied to the determination of melamine in milk with a 10 nM detection limit and an analytical range from 10 nM to 0.1 mM. It is demonstrated that the microfluidic SERS chip developed here shows great promise for use in biochemical assays.

A microfluidic SERS chip employing gold nanocomposites (Ag-Au NCs) as SERS-active substrate was fabricated. Its SERS enhancement factor is 2.7⋅1010. The chip was applied to determinate melamine in milk with detection limit of 10 nM.

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Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.21375156); National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Projects) (No.2015AA021104 and No.2015AA021107); Frontier Research Key Projects of Chongqing Science and Technology Committee (cstc2015jcyjBX0010) and Scientific and Technical Innovation Projects for People’s Livelihood of Chongqing Science and Technology Committee (cstc2015shms zx0014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China

    Rong Wang, Yi Xu, Renjie Wang, Huazhou Zhao, Xiangquan Zheng & Xing Liao

  2. Analytical and Testing Center, Sichuan University of Science & Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan, 643000, China

    Rong Wang

  3. Key laboratory of Fundamental Science of Micro/Nano Device and System Technology for National Defense, Chongqing, 400030, China

    Rong Wang, Yi Xu, Renjie Wang, Chunyan Wang, Huazhou Zhao, Xiangquan Zheng, Xing Liao & Li Cheng

  4. Microsystem Research Center of Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China

    Rong Wang, Yi Xu, Renjie Wang, Chunyan Wang, Huazhou Zhao, Xiangquan Zheng, Xing Liao & Li Cheng

  5. School of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, China

    Chunyan Wang & Li Cheng

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  1. Rong Wang
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Correspondence to Yi Xu.

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Wang, R., Xu, Y., Wang, R. et al. A microfluidic chip based on an ITO support modified with Ag-Au nanocomposites for SERS based determination of melamine. Microchim Acta 184, 279–287 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1990-5

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