Rapid, Quantitative, and Ultrasensitive Point‐of‐Care Testing: A Portable SERS Reader for Lateral Flow Assays in Clinical Chemistry

Abstract

The design of a portable Raman/SERS‐LFA reader with line illumination using a custom‐made fiber optic probe for rapid, quantitative, and ultrasensitive point‐of‐care testing (POCT) is presented. The pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is detectable in clinical samples within only 2–5 s down to approximately 1.6 mIU mL ⁻¹. This acquisition time is several orders of magnitude shorter than those of existing approaches requiring expensive Raman instrumentation, and the method is 15‐times more sensitive than a commercially available lateral flow assay (LFA) as the gold standard. The SERS‐LFA technology paves the way for affordable, quantitative, and ultrasensitive POCT with multiplexing potential in real‐world applications, ranging from clinical chemistry to food and environmental analysis as well as drug and biowarfare agent testing.