Label-free DNA detection using silver nanoprism decorated silicon nanoparticles: Effect of silicon nanoparticle size and doping levels

Kais Daoudi; Soumya Columbus; Bruno P Falcão; Rui N Pereira; Suzana B Peripolli; Krithikadevi Ramachandran; Hassen Hadj Kacem; Anis Allagui; Mounir Gaidi

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2022.122262

Label-free DNA detection using silver nanoprism decorated silicon nanoparticles: Effect of silicon nanoparticle size and doping levels

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2023 Apr 5:290:122262. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.122262. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

Authors

Kais Daoudi¹, Soumya Columbus², Bruno P Falcão³, Rui N Pereira⁴, Suzana B Peripolli⁵, Krithikadevi Ramachandran², Hassen Hadj Kacem⁶, Anis Allagui⁷, Mounir Gaidi⁸

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Advanced Materials Research, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Department of Applied Physics and Astronomy, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: kdaoudi@sharjah.ac.ae.
² Centre for Advanced Materials Research, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
³ CICECO, Department of Physics, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Physics and I3N, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
⁴ Department of Physics and I3N, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
⁵ CICECO, Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
⁶ Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
⁷ Centre for Advanced Materials Research, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Department of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
⁸ Centre for Advanced Materials Research, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Department of Applied Physics and Astronomy, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah, PO Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; Laboratoire de Photovoltaïque, Centre de Recherches et des Technologies de l'Energie, Technopole de Borj-Cédria, Hammam-Lif 2050, Tunisia.

PMID: 36577246
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2022.122262

Abstract

In the present work, we have fabricated silver nanoprism (AgNPrs)/silicon nanoparticle (SiNPs) hybrid arrays for highly sensitive detection of biomolecules via surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique. SiNPs having 7 to 37 nm in size and with phosphorous doping varying from 1 × 10¹⁹ to 1 × 10²⁰ cm^-3 were synthesized in nonthermal plasma synthesis. SiNPs were further immobilized on glass substrates using spin-coating, followed by deposition of AgNPrs using the drop-casting method. SERS studies showed that AgNPrs/SiNPs hybrid arrays exhibit substantial amplification of fingerprint bands of rhodamine 6G (R6G) compared to bare silicon as the reference. Raman signal intensity was found to be dependent on the size of SiNPs, with the largest nanoparticles exhibiting the highest SERS enhancement. In addition, an increase in phosphorous doping concentration was found to reduce R6G peak intensities. AgNPrs/SiNPs hybrid arrays showed excellent stability over time and high spot-to-spot reproducibility as well. Moreover, hybrid arrays enabled DNA detection through intense vibrational modes of human genomic DNA, with a lower detection limit of 1.5 pg/µL; indicating that AgNPrs/SiNPs sensors can serve as a reliable and cost-effective biosensing platform for rapid and label-free analysis of biomolecules.

Keywords: Biomolecules; Biosensors; Doping; Pyramidal; Silicon nanoparticles; Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

MeSH terms

DNA
Humans
Metal Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Reproducibility of Results
Silicon* / chemistry
Silver / chemistry
Spectrum Analysis, Raman / methods

Substances

Silicon
Silver
DNA