Lateral
flow immunoassay (LFIA) has emerged as an effective technique
in the field of food safety and environmental monitoring. However,
sensitive and quantitative detection is still challenging for LFIAs
in complex environments. In this work, a dual-model colorimetric/SERS
lateral flow immunoassay for ultrasensitive determination of clenbuterol
was constructed based on a metallic core–shell Au/Au nanostar
acting as a multifunction tag. Raman reporter molecules are located
between the core (AuNP) and shell (Au nanostar) to form a sandwich
structure, which contributes to eliminate the environmental interference
and improve the detection stability. In addition, the Au/Au nanostar
provides a much higher Raman enhancement due to the presence of sharp
tips and larger surface roughness in comparison with gold nanoparticles
(AuNPs). Thus, on the basis of the antibody–antigen interaction,
the dual-model immunoassay can produce strong colorimetric and surface-enhanced
Raman spectroscopy (SERS) signals for highly sensitive detection of
the target analyte, clenbuterol. Under optimal conditions, clenbuterol
could be detected by the colorimetric model with a visual detection
limit of 5 ng/mL. Meanwhile, the SERS signal of the Au/Au nanostar
was accumulated on the test line for the SERS model detection with
a quantitative detection limit as low as 0.05 ng/mL, which is at least
200-fold lower than that of the traditional AuNPs-based immunoassay.
Furthermore, recovery rates of the proposed method in food samples
were 86–110%. This dual-model immunoassay provides an effective
tool for antibiotic residues analysis and demonstrates a broad potential
for future applications in food safety monitoring.