Rapid identification of nicotine in electronic cigarette liquids based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Authors

Jun-Yi Chien, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanFollow
Yong-Chun Gu, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanFollow
Hsin-Mei Tsai, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanFollow
Chun-Hao Liu, Department of Health, New Taipei City Government, New Taipei City, TaiwanFollow
Chia-Yuan Yen, Department of Health, New Taipei City Government, New Taipei City, TaiwanFollow
Yuh-Lin Wang, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanFollow
Juen-Kai Wang, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, TaiwanFollow
Chi-Hung Lin, Department of Health, New Taipei City Government, New Taipei City, TaiwanFollow

Keywords

Electronic cigarette liquid, Nicotine, SERS

Abstract

Nicotine-containing electronic cigarette liquid (e-liquid) is prohibited in many countries, creating requirements for rapid detection approaches for on-site inspection or screening for large amounts of samples. Here, we demonstrate a simple way to identify nicotine using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with substrates made of silver nanoparticle arrays imbedded in anodic aluminum oxide nanochannels (Ag/AAO). Compared with the reported colloidal nanoparticle-based SERS, that required serial dilutions to enable colloid aggregation in the viscous e-liquid, a small amount of undiluted e-liquid sample can be directly added onto our solid-phase Ag/AAO substrate without any pre-treatment. The sensitivity of our SERS measurements is 2e3 orders of magnitude higher than that required for identification of nicotine in e-liquid, which is typically around 1000e18,000 ppm. Using such nanoparticle array-based SERS, we have tested 22 commercially available e-liquid products, using the corresponding gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCeMS) reports as the reference. The SERS measurements were done within one hour and successfully identified 20 samples. Only 2 samples showed SERS interference from ingredients that were not suitable for SERS analysis.

Abstract Image

Recommended Citation

Chien, Jun-Yi; Gu, Yong-Chun; Tsai, Hsin-Mei; Liu, Chun-Hao; Yen, Chia-Yuan; Wang, Yuh-Lin; Wang, Juen-Kai; and Lin, Chi-Hung (2020) "Rapid identification of nicotine in electronic cigarette liquids based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering," Journal of Food and Drug Analysis: Vol. 28 : Iss. 2 , Article 11.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.38212/2224-6614.1064

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Publisher Note

Due to printer error, this article was previously made available with incorrect page numbers. The article has been repaginated and the article is now available with the correct page numbers for volume 28, issue 2 302-308.