Abstract

In this study, inverse opal photonic crystal hydrogel beads-supported silver nanoparticles for label-free SERS protein detection were demonstrated. Antibody immobilized inverse opal photonic crystal polyacrylamide beads were employed to fulfill multiplex proteins assay. And label-free detection was achieved by intrinsic SERS spectra of proteins. By this approach, three proteins (myoglobin (Mb), hemoglobin (Hb) and cytochrome c (Cyt C)) with the same chromophore (heme) were successfully separated and identified. This new approach, combining the structure properties of inverse opal and intrinsic SERS signal of the proteins, shows great potential applications for SERS-based protein identification and multiplex biomolecule diagnostics.

© 2014 Optical Society of America