Highly Adsorptive Au-TiO 2 Nanocomposites for the SERS Face Mask Allow the Machine-Learning-Based Quantitative Assay of SARS-CoV-2 in Artificial Breath Aerosols

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-TiO nanocomposite SERS face mask and an ablation-assisted autoencoder. The Au-TiO SERS f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS applied materials & interfaces 2022-12, Vol.14 (49), p.54550-54557
Main Authors: Hwang, Charles S H, Lee, Sangyeon, Lee, Sejin, Kim, Hanjin, Kang, Taejoon, Lee, Doheon, Jeong, Ki-Hun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomarkers
COVID-19 - diagnosis
Gold
Humans
Machine Learning
Masks
Nanocomposites
Respiratory Aerosols and Droplets
SARS-CoV-2
Spectrum Analysis, Raman
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
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Summary: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-TiO nanocomposite SERS face mask and an ablation-assisted autoencoder. The Au-TiO 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-TiO 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 10 -10 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-TiO SERS face mask provides a platform for breath biopsy for the detection of various biomarkers in respiratory aerosols.
ISSN:1944-8244
1944-8252
DOI:10.1021/acsami.2c16446