SERS detection of pelvic infection-related pathogenic bacteria based on flexible PDMS-MXene@MOF@Ag ternary substrate

Pelvic infection has become one of the serious diseases that threaten women's health and the effective detection of the potential pathogenic bacteria and pathogens is of extreme importance for preventing and treating pelvic infection. In this paper, a versatile flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-MXene@metal-organic framework (MOF)@silver (Ag) ternary substrate with surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity was developed by using a three-steps strategy of spin-coating, in-situ synthesis, and ion-sputtering to monitor the pelvic infectionrelated pathogenic bacteria of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Attributed to the multi-functions of chemical enhancement, molecular enrichment, and electromagnetic amplification of the three components, a highly sensitive SERS detection for model molecules with the ultra-low concentration of 6.99 x 10- 8 M was facilitated by the ternary substrate with also perfect reproducibility and stability. Furthermore, the as-developed PDMS-MXene@MOF@Ag substrate was used to detect trace E. coli, facilitating a wide linear detection range between 9 x 102 and 9 x 1010 CFU/mL. The results indicated that this versatile ternary SERS substrate was suitable for the sensitive and noninvasive assay of pathogenic bacteria.