{"id":2449,"date":"2026-05-30T11:49:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2026-05-30T11:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T09:49:34","slug":"stick-and-sense-the-new-flexible-paper-based-sers-sensor-for-ultra-sensitive-pathogen-detection-new-article-%f0%9f%93%84%f0%9f%a7%ab%f0%9f%a6%a0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/?p=2449","title":{"rendered":"“Stick-and-Sense”: The New Flexible Paper-Based SERS Sensor for Ultra-Sensitive Pathogen Detection – New Article \ud83d\udcc4\ud83e\uddeb\ud83e\udda0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ensuring the safety of our food and drinking water remains a critical challenge for global public health<\/sup><\/sup>. Traditional methods to identify waterborne and foodborne pathogens\u2014such as Escherichia coli<\/em>\u2014are reliable but notoriously slow, expensive, and tied to specialized laboratory infrastructures<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>. To bridge this gap, a multidisciplinary research team has developed an innovative, low-cost solution: a flexible “Stick-and-Sense” paper tape sensor that brings high-sensitivity laboratory testing directly into the field<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published in the prestigious journal Food Chemistry<\/em>, the study introduces a Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) biosensor created by coating standard commercial masking tape with a self-assembled monolayer of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs)<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dual-Mode Capability: Water and Complex Food Matrices<\/strong> The true power of this platform lies in its versatile dual-mode detection strategy<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Label-Free in Water:<\/strong> When deployed in aqueous environments, the sensor identifies and discriminates among different bacterial strains (such as E. coli<\/em>, Enterococcus<\/em>, and Citrobacter<\/em>) based solely on their unique molecular Raman fingerprints combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). In this mode, it achieves a remarkable detection limit of just 26 CFU\/mL.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Targeted Immunodetection in Food:<\/strong> Complex matrices like milk present major background interference for standard sensors. To solve this, the substrate was functionalized with specific anti-E. coli<\/em> antibodies. This allows the sensor to capture and isolate the target pathogen directly from commercial milk, achieving an experimental limit of detection as low as 25 CFU\/mL.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    High Performance at an Accessible Cost<\/strong> Thanks to the natural porosity of the paper support, the gold nanoparticles organize into a tight three-dimensional network of plasmonic “hot spots”. This arrangement grants the substrate an extraordinary electromagnetic enhancement factor of approximately 10^7 , putting its performance on par with fragile, expensive rigid substrates like silicon or glass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Furthermore, a preliminary economic evaluation highlights the high commercial viability of the device, with a material cost estimated at just around \u20ac0.19 per fully functionalized sensor<\/sup>. This combination of flexibility, high sensitivity, and extreme affordability marks a major milestone toward immediate, on-site food safety and environmental screening<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Acknowledgments: This groundbreaking research was carried out under the brilliant guidance of Dr. Lucia Petti and her outstanding team at the Institute of Applied Sciences and Intelligent Systems “Eduardo Caianiello” (ISASI – CNR) in Pozzuoli<\/sup><\/sup><\/sup><\/sup>. We extend our deepest gratitude to the group for their continuous effort in translating advanced nanotechnology into real-world diagnostics<\/sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Discover Our Article:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DOI: 10.1016\/j.foodchem.2026.149599<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ensuring the safety of our food and drinking water remains a critical challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,11],"tags":[51,49,35,47,34,50,23,53,52],"class_list":["post-2449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-news","tag-biosensors","tag-foodsafety","tag-innovation","tag-isasicnr","tag-nanotechnology","tag-publichealth","tag-sers","tag-smartmaterials","tag-waterquality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosmartlab.cnr.it\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}