Abstract
We detected a trace amount of melamine in powdered milk using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on gold surfaces at an excitation wavelength of 632.8 nm. A detection limit of ∼100 ppm (μg/g) melamine in milk was attained within a few minutes by the gold nanoparticle substrate from chemical reduction; whereas, better sensitivity, as low as ∼200 ppb (ng/g), was achieved by the roughened gold substrate. Our method has the advantage of fast and sensitive detection of melamine in powdered milk without pre-treating the samples.
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This research was supported by the Seoul R&BD program 10543. S-W. Joo thanks Dr. Keun Chang Cho for his valuable comments on the sample preparations.