Gold nanoparticle decorated AAO filter membrane for SERS sensing of urine acetaminophen

Acetaminophen overdose is linked to more emergency room visits than any other drug. Current standard procedure to detect overdoses rely on serum immunoassays, which provides sensitive detection, but are labor-and time-intensive. We present a surface-enhanced Raman scattering filter sensor for label-free detection of acetaminophen concentrations down to 10 μM in 5 mL urine within 5 minutes. The sensor was created by forming gold nanoparticles on an anodic aluminum oxide filter. The sensor was demonstrated to be reusable after simple cleaning procedures, and provides a potential application for point-of-care diagnosis with Raman detection.