Interplay of Electrostatic Interaction and Steric Repulsion between Bacteria and Gold Surface Influences Raman Enhancement

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dong, Jia, Kim, Jeong Hee, Pincus, Isaac, Manna, Sujan, Podgorski, Jennifer M., Zhu, Yanmin, Tadesse, Loza F.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Dong, Jia
Kim, Jeong Hee
Pincus, Isaac
Manna, Sujan
Podgorski, Jennifer M.
Zhu, Yanmin
Tadesse, Loza F.
author_facet Dong, Jia
Kim, Jeong Hee
Pincus, Isaac
Manna, Sujan
Podgorski, Jennifer M.
Zhu, Yanmin
Tadesse, Loza F.
contents Plasmonic nanostructures have wide applications in photonics including pathogen detection and diagnosis via Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Despite major role plasmonics play in signal enhancement, electrostatics in SERS is yet to be fully understood and harnessed. Here, we perform a systematic study of electrostatic interactions between 785 nm resonant gold nanorods designed to harbor zeta potentials of +29, +16, 0 and -9 mV spanning positive neutral and negative domains. SERS activity is tested on representative Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria with zeta potentials of -30 and -23 mV respectively in water. Raman spectroscopy and Cryo-Electron microscopy reveal that +29, +16, 0 and -9 mV nanorods give SERS enhancement of 7.2X, 3.6X, 4.2X, 1.3X to Staphylococcus epidermidis and 3.9X, 2.8X, 2.9X, 1.1X to Escherichia coli. Theoretical results show that electrostatics play the major role among all interaction forces in determining cell-nanorod proximity and signal enhancement. We identify steric repulsion due to cell protrusions to be the critical opposing force. Finally, a design principle is proposed to estimate the electrostatic strength in SERS. Our work provides new insights into the principle of bacteria-nanorod interactions, enabling reproducible and precise biomolecular readouts, critical for next-generation point-of-care diagnostics and smart healthcare applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_06759
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Interplay of Electrostatic Interaction and Steric Repulsion between Bacteria and Gold Surface Influences Raman Enhancement
Dong, Jia
Kim, Jeong Hee
Pincus, Isaac
Manna, Sujan
Podgorski, Jennifer M.
Zhu, Yanmin
Tadesse, Loza F.
Cell Behavior
Biological Physics
Optics
Quantitative Methods
Plasmonic nanostructures have wide applications in photonics including pathogen detection and diagnosis via Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Despite major role plasmonics play in signal enhancement, electrostatics in SERS is yet to be fully understood and harnessed. Here, we perform a systematic study of electrostatic interactions between 785 nm resonant gold nanorods designed to harbor zeta potentials of +29, +16, 0 and -9 mV spanning positive neutral and negative domains. SERS activity is tested on representative Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria with zeta potentials of -30 and -23 mV respectively in water. Raman spectroscopy and Cryo-Electron microscopy reveal that +29, +16, 0 and -9 mV nanorods give SERS enhancement of 7.2X, 3.6X, 4.2X, 1.3X to Staphylococcus epidermidis and 3.9X, 2.8X, 2.9X, 1.1X to Escherichia coli. Theoretical results show that electrostatics play the major role among all interaction forces in determining cell-nanorod proximity and signal enhancement. We identify steric repulsion due to cell protrusions to be the critical opposing force. Finally, a design principle is proposed to estimate the electrostatic strength in SERS. Our work provides new insights into the principle of bacteria-nanorod interactions, enabling reproducible and precise biomolecular readouts, critical for next-generation point-of-care diagnostics and smart healthcare applications.
title Interplay of Electrostatic Interaction and Steric Repulsion between Bacteria and Gold Surface Influences Raman Enhancement
topic Cell Behavior
Biological Physics
Optics
Quantitative Methods
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06759