Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates for monitoring antibiotics in dairy products: Mechanisms, advances, and prospects

Antibiotic residues in dairy products have become an undeniable threat to human health. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been widely used in efficiently detecting antibiotics because of its characteristics including fast response, high resolution, and strong resistance to moisture interference. However, as a core part of SERS technology, the design principle and detection performance of enhanced substrates used in monitoring antibiotics in dairy products have not yet received enough attention. Thus, it is necessary to give a critical review of the recent developments of SERS substrates for monitoring antibiotics in dairy products, which can be expected to provide inspiration for the efficient utilization of SERS technology. In this work, advances in various SERS substrates applied in sensing antibiotics in dairy products were comprehensively reviewed. First, the enhancement mechanisms were introduced in detail. Significantly, the types of enhanced materials (plasmonic metal particles [PMPs], PMPs/semiconductor composite materials) and biometric design strategies including immunoassay, aptamer, and molecularly imprinted polymers-based SERS biosensors applied in dairy products were systematically summarized for the first time. Meanwhile, the performance of SERS substrates used for the detection of antibiotics in dairy products was addressed from the aspects of dynamic linear range and detection restriction strategy. Finally, the conclusions, challenges, and future prospects of SERS substrates for antibiotic monitoring in dairy products were deeply discussed, which also provide new opinions and key points for constructing SERS substrates applied in complex food matrix in the future.