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Electrochemically deposited bimetallic SERS substrate for trace sensing of antibiotics

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Abstract

Electrochemically deposited bimetallic copper-gold nanoparticles on indium tin oxide (Cu-AuNPs on ITO) glass are demonstrated to be a sensitive and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform. An optimal signal enhancement with reasonably good degree of homogeneity was obtained by tuning the deposition parameters of the electrochemical setup. For Raman active analytes such as malachite green (MG) and rhodamine 6G (R6G), the developed SERS platform yields a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.75 nM. The usability of the proposed SERS platform has been realized through detection of two important antibiotics namely sulfamethoxazole (SFZ) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) commonly used in egg farms. Furthermore, a machine learning (ML)-based model coupled with a dimensionality reduction technique—principal component analysis (PCA)—has been implemented to classify the targeted analytes in egg samples.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and in the supplementary section.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank M Gohain, Department of Physics, Tezpur University, for acquiring the FESEM images of SERS substrate. Authors thank Mr. Sritam Biswas of the Department of Physics, Tezpur University for the help with the simulation studies. D. Sarma thanks Gautam Gogoi and Subhir Biswas of the Department of Chemical Science, Tezpur University for helping in the LC-MS analysis.

Funding

D. Sarma expresses gratitude to Tezpur University for its financial assistance through Research and Innovation Grant (DoRD/RIG/10-73/1592-A, 2020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Photonics and Nanophotonics Laboratory, Department of Physics, Tezpur University, Napaam, Tezpur, Assam, 784028, India

    Dipjyoti Sarma & Pabitra Nath

  2. Nanoscience and Soft-Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, Tezpur University, Napaam, Tezpur, Assam, 784028, India

    Ankush Medhi & Dambarudhar Mohanta

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  1. Dipjyoti Sarma
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Correspondence to Pabitra Nath.

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Sarma, D., Medhi, A., Mohanta, D. et al. Electrochemically deposited bimetallic SERS substrate for trace sensing of antibiotics. Microchim Acta 191, 14 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-06075-5

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