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A wide range optical pH sensor for living cells using Au@Ag nanoparticles functionalized carbon nanotubes based on SERS signals

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Abstract

p-Aminothiophenol (pATP) functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been demonstrated as an efficient pH sensor for living cells. The proposed sensor employs gold/silver core-shell nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) functionalized MWCNTs hybrid structure as the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate and pATP molecules as the SERS reporters, which possess a pH-dependent SERS performance. By using MWCNTs as the substrate to be in a state of aggregation, the pH sensing range could be extended to pH 3.0∼14.0, which is much wider than that using unaggregated Au@Ag NPs without MWCNTs. Furthermore, the pH-sensitive performance was well retained in living cells with a low cytotoxicity. The developed SERS-active MWCNTs-based nanocomposite is expected to be an efficient intracellular pH sensor for bio-applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 61177033, 21104009, 61275182). Science Foundation for the Excellent Youth Scholars of Southeast University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Photonics Center, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, Jiangsu, China

    Peng Chen, Zhuyuan Wang, Shenfei Zong, Hui Chen, Dan Zhu, Yuan Zhong & Yiping Cui

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  1. Peng Chen
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  2. Zhuyuan Wang
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  3. Shenfei Zong
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  4. Hui Chen
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  5. Dan Zhu
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Correspondence to Zhuyuan Wang or Yiping Cui.

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Chen, P., Wang, Z., Zong, S. et al. A wide range optical pH sensor for living cells using Au@Ag nanoparticles functionalized carbon nanotubes based on SERS signals. Anal Bioanal Chem 406, 6337–6346 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8064-5

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