TENG with SMIP nanocatalytic probes for au nanosol SERS/abs quantitative analysis of ultratrace 4-methylimidazole

Huahui Xia; Chongning Li; Guiqing Wen; Zhiliang Jiang; Aihui Liang

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2026.128088

TENG with SMIP nanocatalytic probes for au nanosol SERS/abs quantitative analysis of ultratrace 4-methylimidazole

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2026 Nov 15:361:128088. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2026.128088. Epub 2026 May 20.

Authors

Huahui Xia¹, Chongning Li¹, Guiqing Wen², Zhiliang Jiang³, Aihui Liang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Processes and Remediation in Ecologically Fragile Regions, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, Guilin 541004, China.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Processes and Remediation in Ecologically Fragile Regions, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: gqwen@mailbox.gxnu.edu.cn.
³ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Processes and Remediation in Ecologically Fragile Regions, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: zljiang@mailbox.gxnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Processes and Remediation in Ecologically Fragile Regions, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: ahliang2008@163.com.

PMID: 42176608
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2026.128088

Abstract

The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is an innovative energy harvesting technology. There are no reports two nanoprobes TENG in liquid phase for nanosol surface enhanced Raman scattering/absorption (SERS/Abs) quantitative analysis. In this article, two new surface molecular imprinted polymer (SMIP) nanocatalytic probes were synthesized using Cu single atom catalyst (CuSAC) and polyethylene glycol 10,000 (PEG₁₀₀₀₀) as nanosubstrates respectively and 4-methylimidazole (MI) as the template. It was found that these two nanoprobes not only recognize MI but also catalyze the HAuCl₄-mandelic acid (MA) indicator reaction. The in situ generation of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) exhibit SERS and surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) Abs effects. Under the ultrasonic irradiation, a nanoscale TENG constructed with CuSAC@MIP as the positive electrode and PEG₁₀₀₀₀@MIP as the negative electrode. Which exhibit the strongest catalytic effect. After adding MI, the catalysis enhanced greatly, and 0.05-0.3 nmol/L MI and 0.1-1.0 nmol/L can be determined by SERS/Abs dual-mode method. In addition, the ultrasonic driven TENG catalytic mechanism was proposed.

Keywords: 4-methylimidazole; Cu single atom nanozyme; Surface molecularly imprinted polymer nanoprobe; Surface-enhanced Raman scattering; Triboelectric nanogenerator.