Integrated SERS Platform for Reliable Detection and Photothermal Elimination of Bacteria in Whole Blood Samples

Herein, an interference-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform with a sandwich structure has been developed for reliable detection and photothermal killing of bacteria with whole blood as the real sample. The multifunctional platform comprised a plasmonic gold film (pAu) functionalized with bacteria-capturing units of 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid and internal reference of 4-mercaptobenzonitrile as the SERS substrate and vancomycin-modified core (gold)-shell (Prussian blue) nanoparticles (Au@PB@Van NPs) as the SERS tag. The detected SERS signals were from the Raman-silent region where no background signals occurred from biological sources, eliminating the interference and improving the detection sensitivity and accuracy. As a proof-of-concept, model bacterial strain, Staphylococcus aureus, was captured and detected in the whole blood samples. Furthermore, high antibacterial efficiency of approximately 100% was reached under the synergistic photothermal effect from pAu and Au@PB@Van NPs. This study provides a new avenue for bacteria detection in real samples and their subsequent in situ elimination.

Automated summary

A new interference-free SERS platform with a sandwich structure has been developed for reliable detection and photothermal killing of bacteria in real samples, improving detection sensitivity and accuracy by eliminating interference, providing a new avenue for bacterial detection and in situ elimination.