Plasmon-Induced Charge Transfer-Enhanced Raman Scattering on a Semiconductor: Toward Amplification-Free Quantification of SARS-CoV-2

Enduo Feng; Tingting Zheng; Xiaoxiao He; Jinquan Chen; Qingyi Gu; Xiao He; Fanghao Hu; Jinghong Li; Yang Tian

doi:10.1002/anie.202309249

Plasmon-Induced Charge Transfer-Enhanced Raman Scattering on a Semiconductor: Toward Amplification-Free Quantification of SARS-CoV-2

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Sep 18;62(38):e202309249. doi: 10.1002/anie.202309249. Epub 2023 Aug 17.

Authors

Enduo Feng¹, Tingting Zheng¹, Xiaoxiao He², Jinquan Chen², Qingyi Gu^{1

3}, Xiao He^{1

3}, Fanghao Hu⁴, Jinghong Li⁴, Yang Tian¹

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, Department of Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Dongchuan Road 500, 200241, Shanghai, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Dongchuan Road 500, 200241, Shanghai, China.
³ Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Molecular Therapeutics and New Drug Development, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, North Zhongshan Road 3663, 200062, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China.

PMID: 37555368
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202309249

Abstract

Semiconductors demonstrate great potentials as chemical mechanism-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates in determination of biological species in complex living systems with high selectivity. However, low sensitivity is the bottleneck for their practical applications, compared with that of noble metal-based Raman enhancement ascribed to electromagnetic mechanism. Herein, a novel Cu₂ O nanoarray with free carrier density of 1.78×10²¹ cm^-3 comparable to that of noble metals was self-assembled, creating a record in enhancement factor (EF) of 3.19×10¹⁰ among semiconductor substrates. The significant EF was mainly attributed to plasmon-induced hot electron transfer (PIHET) in semiconductor which was never reported before. This Cu₂ O nanoarray was subsequently developed as a highly sensitive and selective SERS chip for non-enzyme and amplification-free SARS-CoV-2 RNA quantification with a detection limit down to 60 copies/mL within 5 min. This unique Cu₂ O nanoarray demonstrated the significant Raman enhancement through PIHET process, enabling rapid and sensitive point-of-care testing of emerging virus variants.

Keywords: Plasmon-Induced Charge Transfer; SARS-CoV-2; Self-assembly; Semiconductor; Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / diagnosis
Humans
RNA, Viral
SARS-CoV-2*
Semiconductors
Spectrum Analysis, Raman

Substances

RNA, Viral