• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.342-352
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• 2022

Purine catabolite screening enables reliable diagnosis of certain diseases. In this regard, the development of a facile detection strategy with high sensitivity and selectivity is demanded for point-of-care applications. In this work, the simultaneous detection of uric acid (UA), xanthine (XA), and hypoxanthine (HX) was carried out as model purine catabolites by surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). The detection assay was conducted by employing high-aspect ratio Au nanopillar substrates coupled with in-situ Au electrodeposition on the substrates. The additional modification of the Au nanopillar substrates via electrodeposition was found to be an effective method to encapsulate molecules in solution into nanogaps of growing Au films that increase metal-molecule contact and improve substrate's sensitivity and selectivity. In complex solutions, the approach facilitated ternary identification of UA, XA, and HX down to concentration limits of 4.33 𝜇M, 0.71 𝜇M, and 0.22 𝜇M, respectively, which are comparable to their existing levels in normal human physiology. These results demonstrate that the proposed platform is reliable for practical point-of-care analysis of biofluids where solution matrix effects greatly reduce selectivity and sensitivity for rapid on-site disease diagnosis.