Building SERS-active heteroassemblies for ultrasensitive Bisphenol A detection

Bisphenol A (BPA) usually exists in daily plastic products, as one of the most important endocrine disrupting chemicals. A sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-encoded aptasensor for the detection of BPA was developed, for the first time, based on gold nanoparticle-nanorod heteroassemblies. The high electromagnetic enhancement in narrow gaps between metal nanoparticles of these heteroassemblies led to marked Raman signals. It was found that the assembly degree and the corresponding SERS signals were in inverse correlation to the BPA concentrations over a wide linear range of 0.001-1 ng/mL and the limit of detection was as low as 3.9 pg/mL. Excellent recovery ranging from 91% to 95.3% was obtained to assess the feasibility of this method for real sample detection, indicating promising application for the detection of BPA.