Hydrophobic interaction enables rapid enrichment of volatile metabolites on Au/TiO based SERS substrates for ultrasensitive bacteria detection.

Bacterial contamination in diets is a major threat to human health and a global health problem. The development of sensitive methods for rapid discrimination of benign and pathogenic bacteria is essential. Herein, using self-standing Au/TiO nanotubes as a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate, rapid and sensitive bacteria discrimination is achieved the hydrophobic interaction between the volatile metabolites released from pathogenic bacteria and the SERS substrate.