Dual-Mode SERS and Colorimetric Sensor for Lung Cancer VOC-Biomarker Detection Using Hydrogel Patches

Physics > Medical Physics [Submitted on 29 Jul 2026] Title:Dual-Mode SERS and Colorimetric Sensor for Lung Cancer VOC-Biomarker Detection Using Hydrogel Patches View PDFAbstract:Hexanal, a volatile organic compound (VOC), is a potential biomarker for the early detection of lung cancer. In this study, we developed a dual-mode flexible biosensor that integrates surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and colorimetric detection for the quantitative analysis of hexanal in human exhaled breath. The biosensor employs Ag nanocubes wrapped with Co-Ni layered double hydroxide (AgNCs@Co-Ni LDH) as a functional matrix, offering both superior SERS enhancement and efficient VOC adsorption properties. To achieve selective detection, AgNCs@Co-Ni LDH were incorporated into agarose hydrogels along with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH). The resulting MBTH-AgNCs@Co-Ni LDH/hydrogel-patch facilitate the oxidation of hexanal, enabling simultaneous colorimetric and SERS signal generation, while producing acrizine, a blue-colored reaction product. This hydrogel-based dual-mode sensing platform exhibits high selectivity, excellent stability, and precision in SERS-based hexanal detection. The detection limit for the SERS method was determined to be as low as 3.34x10-13 M. Furthermore, developed and optimized compact CNN-based multi-terminal intelligent recognition system for enhanced hydrogel-patch detection through AI-driven, portable, and real-time colorimetric analysis. Therefore, this work not only enables the effective detection of hexanal in the exhaled breath of suspected lung cancer patients, underscoring its potential for early lung cancer screening, but also establishes a foundation for the development of multimodal hydrogel biosensors for broader applications in disease diagnosis. Current browse context: physics.med-ph Change to browse by: References & Citations Loading... Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.