Disintegration and Machine-Learning-Assisted Identification of Bacteria on Antimicrobial and Plasmonic Ag–Cu_xO Nanostructures

Abstract

Bacteria cause many common infections and are the culprit of many outbreaks throughout history that have led to the loss of millions of lives. Contamination of inanimate surfaces in clinics, the food chain, and the environment poses a significant threat to humanity, with the increase in antimicrobial resistance exacerbating the issue. Two key strategies to address this issue are antibacterial coatings and effective detection of bacterial contamination. In this study, we present the formation of antimicrobial and plasmonic surfaces based on Ag–Cu x O nanostructures using green synthesis methods and low-cost paper substrates. The fabricated nanostructured surfaces exhibit excellent bactericidal efficiency and high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. The Cu x O ensures outstanding and rapid antibacterial activity within 30 min, with a rate of >99.99% against typical Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The plasmonic Ag nanoparticles facilitate the electromagnetic enhancement of Raman scattering and enables rapid, label-free, and sensitive identification of bacteria at a concentration as low as 103 cfu/mL. The detection of different strains at this low concentration is attributed to the leaching of the intracellular components of the bacteria caused by the nanostructures. Additionally, SERS is coupled with machine learning algorithms for the automated identification of bacteria with an accuracy that exceeds 96%. The proposed strategy achieves effective prevention of bacterial contamination and accurate identification of the bacteria on the same material platform by using sustainable and low-cost materials.

Amoxicillin-Induced Purine Molecules Were Used as Bacterial Markers for SERS Detection and Recognition

“…Bacterial SERS reflects the characteristics of bacteria, and the similarity in composition between different species of bacteria makes it difficult to distinguish SERS. Machine learning (ML) is able to recognize the weak differences between bacterial spectra and is widely used in the field of SERS detection of bacteria. , It is able to compress the spectral features and extract effective information to achieve the distinction between bacteria, and it is also able to point out the key features that affect the model. T-distributed Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding (T-SNE) is used as a means of dimensionality reduction, which removes redundant features and extracts valid ones.…”

ZnO@Ag-Functionalized Paper-Based Microarray Chip for SERS Detection of Bacteria and Antibacterial and Photocatalytic Inactivation

“…9 With the development of nanoscience, semiconductor materials have re-entered the limelight as SERS active substrates. 10 Noteworthy, the amplification of Raman scattering is primarily caused by charge transfer at the semiconductor−analyte interface. 11,12 Significantly, when noble metal NPs are compounded with semiconductor NPs, the composite can override both metal and semiconductor NPs, resulting in novel electronic and optical properties.…”

“…Nevertheless, the preparation process of excellent noble metal nanosubstrates is particularly complicated, and there are also problems of uneven distribution of “hot spots” and poor biocompatibility . With the development of nanoscience, semiconductor materials have re-entered the limelight as SERS active substrates . Noteworthy, the amplification of Raman scattering is primarily caused by charge transfer at the semiconductor–analyte interface. , …”

Mechanochemical Activation of Silicone for Large-Scale Fabrication of Anti-Biofouling Liquid-like Surfaces

“…Complications caused by bacterial contamination of high-touch surfaces, medical devices, and food lead to increased mortality, infections, and excessive medical costs . Pathogenic bacteria transmitted from bacterial contamination of the surface are known to kill millions of people each year due to bacterial infections and continue to pose a serious threat to human life . A particularly important application for public health is generating anti-biofouling coatings on sanitary ware.…”