Recyclable surface enhanced Raman scattering monitoring of nucleotides and their metabolites based on Au nanoflowers modified g-C3N4 nanosheets

The effective monitoring of nucleotides and their metabolites is critical for the prevention of various genetic metabolic diseases. In this aspect, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as an ultrasensitive and nondestructive sensing techniques has spurted an attractive prospect. Henceforth, an effective SERS-based analysis of adenosine monophosphate (AMP) as well as adenine was realized here by utilizing an innovative kind of self-cleaning substrate constructed with graphitic carbon nitride and Au nanoflowers (g-C 3 N 4 @Au NFs). Taking advantages of the numerous nanotip-triggered “hotspot” regions of Au NFs as well as the excellent photocatalytic degradation capability of g-C 3 N 4 matrix, the hybrid substrate not only brought about a low limit of detection (LOD) of 5.01 × 10 −10 M, but also yielded an attractive self-cleaning property. Particularly, these fascinating features of the proposed g-C 3 N 4 @Au NFs facilitated a recyclable monitoring of AMP and adenine in serum with reliable sensitivity and stability. The achieved wide linear range from 10 −4 to 1 mg/mL together with the LOD values down to 10 −5 mg/mL all envisioned that it is possible to monitor and investigate human metabolic processes by SERS protocol.