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Gold nanorods are well-known surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates. Under longitudinal plasmonic excitation, the ends of the nanorods experience larger local electric fields compared to the sides of the rods, suggesting that Raman-active molecules would be best detected if the molecules could preferentially bind to the ends of the nanorods. Coating the tips of gold nanorods with anionic mesoporous silica caps enabled surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of the cationic dye methylene blue at lower concentrations than observed for the corresponding silica coating of the entire rod. By analyzing the intensity ratio of two Raman active modes of methylene blue and the surface plasmon resonance peak shift of the gold nanorod composites, it can be inferred that at a low concentration of methylene blue, molecules adsorb to the tips of the tip coated silica gold nanorods. Functionalization of the anionic silica endcaps with cationic groups eliminates the SERS enhancement for the cationic methylene blue, demonstrating the electrostatic nature of the adsorption process in this case. These results show that anisotropic silica coatings can concentrate analytes at the tips of gold nanorods for improvements in chemical sensing and diagnostics.
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Quantification of solution-free red blood cell staining by sorption kinetics of Romanowsky stains to agarose gels
The imaging and quantification of stained red blood cells (RBCs) are important for identifying RBCs in hematology and for diagnosing diseased RBCs or parasites in cytopathology. Romanowsky staining has been used traditionally to produce hues in blood cells using a mixture of anionic eosin Y and cationic methylene blue and azure B. While Romanowsky stains have been widely used in cytopathology, end-users have experienced problems with varying results in staining due to the premature precipitation or evaporation of methanol, leading to the inherent inconsistency of solution-based Romanowsky staining. Herein, we demonstrate that the staining and destaining of blood smears are controllable by the contact time of agarose gel stamps. While the extent of staining and destaining is discernable by the hue values of stamped red blood cells in micrographs, the quantification of adsorbed and desorbed Romanowsky dye molecules (in particular, eosin Y, methylene blue and azure B) from and to the agarose gel stamps needs a model that can explain the sorption process. We found predictable sorption of the Romanowsky dye molecules from the pseudo-second-order kinetic model for adsorption and the one phase decay model for desorption. Thus, the method of agarose gel stamping demonstrated here could be an alternative to solution-based Romanowsky staining with the predictable quantity of sorption and timing of contact.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2047018
- PAR ID:
- 10469804
- Publisher / Repository:
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Analytical Methods
- Volume:
- 15
- Issue:
- 40
- ISSN:
- 1759-9660
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5369 to 5379
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/D3AY01431B
