The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection technology is playing an important role in various fields such as food safety and environmental monitoring due to its excellent stability and reliability. However, there is also a growing demand for higher sensitivity in SPR sensors. Therefore, this work dev...

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Main Authors: Jing Ouyang, Xiantong Yu, Mengjie Wang, Longfei Wang, Zhao Li, Chaojun Shi, Hao Li, Yufeng Yuan, Jun Zhou, Min Chang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Sensors
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/13/3903
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author Jing Ouyang
Xiantong Yu
Mengjie Wang
Longfei Wang
Zhao Li
Chaojun Shi
Hao Li
Yufeng Yuan
Jun Zhou
Min Chang
author_facet Jing Ouyang
Xiantong Yu
Mengjie Wang
Longfei Wang
Zhao Li
Chaojun Shi
Hao Li
Yufeng Yuan
Jun Zhou
Min Chang
author_sort Jing Ouyang
collection DOAJ
description Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection technology is playing an important role in various fields such as food safety and environmental monitoring due to its excellent stability and reliability. However, there is also a growing demand for higher sensitivity in SPR sensors. Therefore, this work developed an SPR sensor based on the synergistic effect of electric-field enhancement and adsorption enhancement by using amino acid-derived carbon dots (CDs). The results showed that the incorporation of amino acid CDs can generate a maximum electric-field enhancement of up to 6.44 × 10<sup>5</sup> V/m in the near-field region, which is 312% of that achieved by a bare gold film. And the adsorption kinetics results indicate that the active groups on the surface of amino acid CDs exhibit a notable adsorption enhancement effect for the target molecule (NaCl), with an adsorption capacity 335% higher than that of the bare gold film. This designed SPR sensor demonstrates a detection sensitivity of 167.28 a.u./RIU for NaCl solution, representing a 247.8% improvement compared to an SPR sensor without amino acid CDs under the same conditions. This SPR sensor shows promising potential for applications in biomedical and environmental detection fields.
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institution OA Journals
issn 1424-8220
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Sensors
spelling doaj-art-5707806d9ec24a0e933c6f722bb9674f2025-08-20T02:36:31ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202025-06-012513390310.3390/s25133903The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR SensorsJing Ouyang0Xiantong Yu1Mengjie Wang2Longfei Wang3Zhao Li4Chaojun Shi5Hao Li6Yufeng Yuan7Jun Zhou8Min Chang9Key Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, ChinaSchool of Electronic Engineering and Intelligentization, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optical Technology and Instrument for Medicine, Ministry of Education, College of Optical-Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaSurface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection technology is playing an important role in various fields such as food safety and environmental monitoring due to its excellent stability and reliability. However, there is also a growing demand for higher sensitivity in SPR sensors. Therefore, this work developed an SPR sensor based on the synergistic effect of electric-field enhancement and adsorption enhancement by using amino acid-derived carbon dots (CDs). The results showed that the incorporation of amino acid CDs can generate a maximum electric-field enhancement of up to 6.44 × 10<sup>5</sup> V/m in the near-field region, which is 312% of that achieved by a bare gold film. And the adsorption kinetics results indicate that the active groups on the surface of amino acid CDs exhibit a notable adsorption enhancement effect for the target molecule (NaCl), with an adsorption capacity 335% higher than that of the bare gold film. This designed SPR sensor demonstrates a detection sensitivity of 167.28 a.u./RIU for NaCl solution, representing a 247.8% improvement compared to an SPR sensor without amino acid CDs under the same conditions. This SPR sensor shows promising potential for applications in biomedical and environmental detection fields.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/13/3903surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensoramino acid-derived carbon dots (CDs)adsorption kinetics
spellingShingle Jing Ouyang
Xiantong Yu
Mengjie Wang
Longfei Wang
Zhao Li
Chaojun Shi
Hao Li
Yufeng Yuan
Jun Zhou
Min Chang
The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
Sensors
surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor
amino acid-derived carbon dots (CDs)
adsorption kinetics
title The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
title_full The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
title_fullStr The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
title_full_unstemmed The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
title_short The Synergistic Effect of Electric-Field and Adsorption Enhancement of Amino Acid Carbon Dots Significantly Improves the Detection Sensitivity of SPR Sensors
title_sort synergistic effect of electric field and adsorption enhancement of amino acid carbon dots significantly improves the detection sensitivity of spr sensors
topic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor
amino acid-derived carbon dots (CDs)
adsorption kinetics
url https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/25/13/3903
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