The as-prepared co-doped N/Ag carbon dot (CD_NAg) has strong catalysis of H₂O₂ oxidation of 3,3′-dimethylbiphenyl-4,4′-diamine (DBD). It forms an oxidation product (DBD_ox) with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity at 1605 cm⁻¹ in the silver nanosol substrate, and a CD_NAg catalytic amplification with SERS analytical platform can be structured based on aptamer (Apt) with the DBD oxidizing reaction. For example, the aptamer (Apt) of acetamiprid (ACT) can be adsorbed on the surface of CD_NAg, resulting in inhibited catalytic activity, the reduced generation of DBD_ox, and a weakened SERS intensity. When the target molecule ACT was added, it formed a stable Apt-ACT complex and free CD_NAg that restored catalytic activity and linearly enhanced the SERS signal. Based on this, we proposed a new quantitative SERS analysis method for the determination of 0.01–1.5 μg ACT with a detection limit of 0.006 μg/L.

Mercury (Hg) is a heavy metal pollutant, there is an urgent need to develop simple and sensitive methods for Hg(II) in water. In this article, a simple and sensitive resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) method was developed for determination of 0.008–1.33 µmol/L Hg, with a detection limit of 0.003 μmol/L, based on the Hg(II) regulation of gold nanoenzyme catalysis on the HAuCl₄-H₂O₂ to form gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with an RRS peak at 370 nm. Upon addition of molecular probes of Victoria blue B (VBB), the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) peak linearly decreased at 1612 cm⁻¹ with the Hg(II) concentration increasing in the range of 0.013–0.5 μmol/L. With its good selectivity and good accuracy, the RRS method is expected to be a promising candidate for determining mercury ions in water samples.

Fullerene exhibited strong catalysis of the redox reaction between HAuCl₄ and trisodium citrate to form gold nanoplasmon with a strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect at 1615 cm⁻¹ in the presence of Vitoria blue B molecule probes. When fullerene increased, the SERS peak enhanced linearly due to formation of more AuNPs as substrate. Upon addition of Ba²⁺, Ba²⁺ ions adsorb on the fullerene surface to inhibit the catalysis of fullerene that caused the SERS peak decreasing. Analyte SO₄²⁻ combined with Ba²⁺ to form stable BaSO₄ precipitate to release free fullerene that the catalysis recovered, and the SERS intensity increased linearly. Thus, a new SERS quantitative analysis method was established for the detection of sulfate in serum samples, with a linear range of 0.03–3.4 μM.