In ACS applied materials & interfaces ; h5-index 147.0
Human respiratory aerosols contain diverse potential biomarkers for early disease diagnosis. Here, we report the direct and label-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory aerosols using a highly adsorptive Au-TiO2 nanocomposite SERS face mask and an ablation-assisted autoencoder. The Au-TiO2 SERS face mask continuously preconcentrates and efficiently captures the oronasal aerosols, which substantially enhances the SERS signal intensities by 47% compared to simple Au nanoislands. The ultrasensitive Au-TiO2 nanocomposites also demonstrate the successful detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in artificial respiratory aerosols at a 100 pM concentration level. The deep learning-based autoencoder, followed by the partial ablation of nondiscriminant SERS features of spike proteins, allows a quantitative assay of the 101-104 pfu/mL SARS-CoV-2 lysates (comparable to 19-29 PCR cyclic threshold from COVID-19 patients) in aerosols with an accuracy of over 98%. The Au-TiO2 SERS face mask provides a platform for breath biopsy for the detection of various biomarkers in respiratory aerosols.
Hwang Charles S H, Lee Sangyeon, Lee Sejin, Kim Hanjin, Kang Taejoon, Lee Doheon, Jeong Ki-Hun
2022-Nov-30
SARS-CoV-2, breath biopsy, machine-learning, nanocomposite, plasmonics, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
