Silver Enhancement of Gold Nanoparticles for Biosensing: From Qualitative to Quantitative

Abstract

The establishment and rapid progress in sensitive biosensing using immunogold silver enhancement has occurred in the past 30 years. Its high sensitivity and simplicity have made immunogold silver enhancement a revolutionary technique for signal amplification in biosensing. This review focuses on the major applications of immunogold silver enhancement, with special emphasis on quantitative biosensing. In this review, the combinations of immunogold silver enhancement with a series of quantitative techniques, such as colorimetry, electrical and electrochemical methods, gravimetry, chemiluminescence, Raman spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), are discussed in detail. Immunogold silver enhancement has become one of the most useful methods in highly sensitive quantitative bioanalysis. The recent development of ICP-MS detection shows great potential in combination with immunogold silver enhancement.

Keywords:

• Silver enhancement
• gold nanoparticles
• biosensing
• ICP-MS
• amplification

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21205007), the Education Department of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 12ZB186), and the cultivating program of middle-aged backbone teachers of the Chengdu University of Technology (Grant No. KYGG201307) for funding this study.