Intelligent and Ultrasensitive Analysis of Mercury Trace Contaminants via Plasmonic Metamaterial-Based Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

摘要

Since the first introduction by Adleman in 1994, the DNA logic gates have been considered as the future of computation technology where their small size is a distinct advantage over the conventional top-down semiconductor technology. However, immediate interest has been particularly paid to diversifying applications of the logic circuits as smart sensing and diagnostic platforms owing to the unique properties of DNA such as self-assembly, specific recognition and conformation modulation upon exposing to external stimuli (i.e. metallic ions, proteins). Along this line, DNA-based systems (e.g. DNAzymes, molecular beacons, Guanine-rich oligonucleotides (G-quadruplexes), aptamers have been devised on different nanometer scale carriers such as graphene, graphene oxide, solid-state nanochannels, quantum dots, and gold nanodisc arrays for various logic gate operations and biosensing applications. Those DNA logic operations mostly rely on fluorescence and enzyme cascades to generate “ON” or “OFF” output signals which involve complex handling and analysis procedures, thus restricting the performance and applications of the sophisticated logic devices. In addition, it still remains very challenging to realize a label-free and switchable DNA logic gate-based biosensing platform that can selectively respond to extremely low concentration of the chemical and biological stimuli.