Highly catalytic and stable N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were prepared rapidly by microwave procedure using glucose as precursor and ammonium sulfite as N-dopant. The reduction of AgNO3 by trisodium citrate (TCA) was slow to form nanosilver (AgNP), and the N-CDs exhibited strong catalysis of the AgNP reaction. The formed AgNPs were used as indicator in the presence of Vitoria blue B (VBB) molecule probe with a SERS peak at 1615 cm(-1). With the increase of nancatalyst N-CDs concentration, the AgNP reaction speed up, and the SERS peak of VBB enhanced linearly due to formation of more AgNPs as substrate. In the presence of avidin (Ad), the SERS peak weakened. Upon addition of biotin, the SERS peak enhanced due to turn on the indicator nanoreaction. The enhanced SERS signal had a good linear relationship with the biotin concentration in range of 0.0006-0.021 ng/mL, with a detection limit of 0.3 pg/mL.

Carbon dots (CD) have excellent stability and fluorescence activity, and have been widely used in fluorescence methods. However, there are no reports about using CD as catalysts to amplify SERS signals to detect trace sulfate. Thus, preparing CD catalysts and their application in SERS sulfate-sensing are significant. In this article, highly catalytic N-doped carbon dots (CDN) were prepared by a hydrothermal procedure. CDN exhibited strong catalysis of the gold nanoparticle (AuNP) reaction between HAuCl4 and H2O2. Vitoria blue 4R (VB4R) has a strong SERS peak at 1614 cm−1 in the formed AuNP sol substrate. When Ba2+ ions were added, they were adsorbed on a CDN surface to inhibit the CDN catalytic activity that caused the SERS peak decreasing. Upon addition of analyte SO42−, a reaction with Ba2+ produced stable BaSO4 precipitate and CDN, and its catalysis recovered to cause SERS intensity increasing linearly. Thus, an SERS method was developed for the detection of 0.02–1.7 μmol/L SO42−, with a detection limit of 0.007 μmol/L.

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.