Construction of SERS chip based on silver nanoparticles and detection of sports doping β-agonists

Abstract

Sports doping is a persistent challenge in competitive sports, undermining the integrity of athletic competitions and posing health risks to athletes. This study focuses on the development of a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) chip for the detection of β-agonists, such as clenbuterol, ractopamine, and salbutamol, which are commonly abused as performance-enhancing drugs. The SERS chip was constructed by depositing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) onto activated carbon (AC) as a substrate, utilizing their plasmonic properties and ease of synthesis. The successful loading of AgNPs onto AC was confirmed by SEM imaging, demonstrating a uniform distribution of AgNPs on the surface of AC. The SERS chip exhibited enhanced sensitivity in detecting β-agonists compared to conventional methods. The SERS signals of the analytes decreased with decreasing concentrations, indicating the chip's ability to detect low-concentration analytes. Notably, the AC/AgNPs composite demonstrated stronger SERS signals compared to AgNPs alone, attributed to the improved loading efficiency and electromagnetic field enhancement provided by the AC substrate. The detection limit of the AC/AgNPs SERS chip for clenbuterol, ractopamine, and salbutamol was found to be 0.003 mg/L, 0.001 mg/L, and 0.007 mg/L, respectively. The developed SERS chip offers rapid and sensitive detection of β-agonists in sports doping control. It overcomes the limitations of conventional methods, such as immunoassays and chromatographic techniques, in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and sample preparation time. The application of SERS in anti-doping efforts holds great promise for maintaining fair and clean sports competitions.