Preparation of (3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane-Modified Silica Particles with Tunable Isoelectric Point.

Silica particles modified with amino groups hold immense potential across diverse fields, owing to their distinctive properties. The widely adopted method of surface modification, utilizing (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES), facilitates the incorporation of amino-functional groups onto the silica surface, thereby creating sites for subsequent functionalization with other molecules. In this context, the ability to precisely tailor the surface properties of amino-functionalized silica particles is crucial for optimizing their performance in various applications.

Fabrication of Flexible Pyramid Array as SERS Substrate for Direct Sampling and Reproducible Detection.

Rapid extraction and analysis of target molecules from irregular surfaces are in high demand in the field of on-site analysis. Herein, a flexible platform used for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) based on an ordered polymer pyramid structure with half-imbedded silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was prepared to address this issue. The fabrication includes the following steps: (1) creating inverted pyramid arrays in silicon substrate, (2) preparing a layer of AgNPs on the surface of the inverted pyramids, and (3) obtaining a substrate with an ordered polymer pyramids array with half-imbedded AgNPs by the molding method.

Increasing hotspots density for high-sensitivity SERS detection by assembling array of Ag nanocubes.

Trace analysis has great promise in the fields of disease diagnosis and environment protection. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has wide range of utilization due to its reliable fingerprint detection. However, the sensitivity of SERS still needs to be enhanced.

Enhancing Detection Reproducibility of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering by Controlling Analytes under One Laser Spot.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), as a sensitive analytical technique, is expected to be used for quantification of trace analytes. At the current stage, high detection reproducibility should be guaranteed for realizing quantification analysis of trace analytes. The main obstacle to achieving high detection reproducibility is the nonuniform distribution of analyte molecules on substrates, particularly, the "coffee-ring" effect introduced by the flow of solute to the pinning of the contact line.

Laser desorption/ionization on nanostructured silicon: morphology matters.

The surface morphology of the silicon nanostructure plays a crucial role in the laser desorption/ionization (LDI) process. Understanding the correlation between the surface morphology and LDI performance is the foundation for creating silicon substrates with high LDI efficiency. Most of the present studies focus only on the structural parameters (such as porosity, depth, total surface area, dimension, ) of a single structure, but their effects on LDI efficiency vary with the types of silicon structures.

Silver-nanoparticle-grafted silicon nanocones for reproducible Raman detection of trace contaminants in complex liquid environments.

Super-hydrophobic delivery (SHD) is an efficient approach to enrich trace analytes into hot spot regions for ultrasensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. In this article, we propose an efficient and simple method to prepare a highly-uniform SHD-SERS platform of high performance in trace detection, named as "silver-nanoparticle-grafted silicon nanocones" (termed AgNPs/SiNC) platform. It is fabricated via droplet-confined electroless deposition on the super-hydrophobic SiNC array.

Carbon nanoparticles derived from carbon soot as a matrix for SALDI-MS analysis.

Carbon nanoparticles (NPs) from the incomplete combustion of a candle were used as matrix for surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS). The washed carbon soot NPs (WCS NPs, ~48 nm) exhibit higher laser desorption/ionization efficiency and less background compared with other common metal and carbon matrices. WCS NPs present good reproducibility and high sensitivity in analyzing a wide range of molecules in both positive and negative ionization mode in SALDI-MS.

Size-matching hierarchical micropillar arrays for detecting circulating tumor cells in breast cancer patients' whole blood.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are important markers for cancer diagnosis and treatment, but it is still a challenge to recognize and isolate CTCs because they are very rare in the blood. To selectively recognize CTCs and improve the capture efficiency, micro/nanostructured substrates have been fabricated for this application; however the size of CTCs is often ignored in designing and engineering micro/nanostructured substrates. Herein, a spiky polymer micropillar array is fabricated for capturing CTCs with high efficiency.

Confining analyte droplets on visible Si pillars for improving reproducibility and sensitivity of SALDI-TOF MS.

We present a universal method to efficiently improve reproducibility and sensitivity of surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (SALDI-TOF MS). In this method, the Si pillar array with unique surface wettability is used as substrate for ionizing analyte. The Si pillar is fabricated based on the combination of photolithography and metal-assisted chemical etching, which is of hydrophilic top and hydrophobic bottom and side wall.

A silver nanoislands on silica spheres platform: enriching trace amounts of analytes for ultrasensitive and reproducible SERS detection.

The performance of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for detecting trace amounts of analytes depends highly on the enrichment of the diluted analytes into a small region that can be detected. A super-hydrophobic delivery (SHD) process is an excellent process to enrich even femtomolar analytes for SERS detection. However, it is still challenging to easily fabricate a low detection limit, high sensitivity and reproducible SHD-SERS substrate.

Droplet-Confined Electroless Deposition of Silver Nanoparticles on Ordered Superhydrophobic Structures for High Uniform SERS Measurements.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy (SERS) is a nondestructive testing technique. To increase reproducibility of the SERS measurement is the key issue for improving the performance of SERS. In this article, we demonstrate an efficient method to improve the reproducibility, using confined silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as a substrate.