Charge-Transfer Resonance and Electromagnetic Enhancement Synergistically Enabling MXenes with Excellent SERS Sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 S Protein Detection

Yusi Peng; Chenglong Lin; Li Long; Tanemura Masaki; Mao Tang; Lili Yang; Jianjun Liu; Zhengren Huang; Zhiyuan Li; Xiaoying Luo; John R Lombardi; Yong Yang

doi:10.1007/s40820-020-00565-4

Charge-Transfer Resonance and Electromagnetic Enhancement Synergistically Enabling MXenes with Excellent SERS Sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 S Protein Detection

Nanomicro Lett. 2021 Jan 5:13:52. doi: 10.1007/s40820-020-00565-4. eCollection 2021 Jan.

Authors

Yusi Peng^{1

2

3}, Chenglong Lin^{1

2

3}, Li Long⁴, Tanemura Masaki⁵, Mao Tang¹, Lili Yang^{1

2

3}, Jianjun Liu¹, Zhengren Huang¹, Zhiyuan Li⁴, Xiaoying Luo⁶, John R Lombardi⁷, Yong Yang^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai, 200050 People's Republic of China.
² Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19(A) Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049 People's Republic of China.
³ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049 People's Republic of China.
⁴ School of Physics and Optoelectronics, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641 People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Frontier Materials, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Nagoya, 466-8555 Japan.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200032 People's Republic of China.
⁷ City College, CUNY, New York, NY USA.

Abstract

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 has seriously threatened human health. Rapidly and sensitively detecting SARS-CoV-2 viruses can help control the spread of viruses. However, it is an arduous challenge to apply semiconductor-based substrates for virus SERS detection due to their poor sensitivity. Therefore, it is worthwhile to search novel semiconductor-based substrates with excellent SERS sensitivity. Herein we report, for the first time, Nb₂C and Ta₂C MXenes exhibit a remarkable SERS enhancement, which is synergistically enabled by the charge transfer resonance enhancement and electromagnetic enhancement. Their SERS sensitivity is optimized to 3.0 × 10⁶ and 1.4 × 10⁶ under the optimal resonance excitation wavelength of 532 nm. Additionally, remarkable SERS sensitivity endows Ta₂C MXenes with capability to sensitively detect and accurately identify the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Moreover, its detection limit is as low as 5 × 10^-9 M, which is beneficial to achieve real-time monitoring and early warning of novel coronavirus. This research not only provides helpful theoretical guidance for exploring other novel SERS-active semiconductor-based materials but also provides a potential candidate for the practical applications of SERS technology.

Keywords: Nb2C and Ta2C MXenes; PICT resonance; SARS-CoV-2 S protein; SERS sensitivity.