{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,28]],"date-time":"2026-06-28T07:58:52Z","timestamp":1782633532206,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"20","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760313600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Suzhou University doctoral research start-up fund","award":["2024BSK011"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024BSK011"]}]},{"name":"Young Teachers Cultivation Program of Young and Middle-aged Teachers Cultivation Action of Anhui Provincial Department of Education","award":["YQYB2023050"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["YQYB2023050"]}]},{"name":"2024 Natural Science Research Key Project of the Education Department of Anhui Province","award":["2024AH051822"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AH051822"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nanomaterials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) enables ultra-sensitive molecular detection and has broad analytical and biomedical applications; recent advances focus on high-performance substrates and innovative detection strategies. However, achieving controllable and reproducible substrate fabrication\u2014particularly using natural templates such as hair\u2014remains challenging, limiting SERS application in trace analysis and on-site detection. This study developed a single-hair in situ SERS platform using a natural hair template. Confinement within hair cuticle grooves and capillary-evaporation assembly enables dense arrangement of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-coated Au nanorods and polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated Au nanoparticles, forming uniform plasmonic nanoarrays. Spectroscopy and microscopy analyses confirmed the regular alignment of nanostructures along the hair axis with denser packing at the edges. The platform detected crystal violet at 10\u22129 M, yielding clear signals, negligible background, and stable peaks after repeated washing. For p-phenylenediamine, enhancement was observed down to 10\u22126 M. On the platform, a concentration-dependent response appeared within 10\u22123\u201310\u22125 M, with spatial Raman imaging along the hair axis. Capillary-evaporation coupling and interfacial wettability facilitated solute enrichment from larger to smaller gap hotspots, improving signal-to-noise ratio and reproducibility. This portable, low-cost, and scalable method supports rapid on-site screening in complex matrixes, offering a general strategy for hotspot engineering and programmable assembly on natural templates.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nano15201557","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:13:27Z","timestamp":1760361207000},"page":"1557","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Hair-Template Confinement Assembly of Nanomaterials Enables a Robust Single-Hair Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectrocopy Platform for Trace Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Miao","family":"Qin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spin Electron and Nanomaterials of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Suzhou University, Suzhou 234000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Siyu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information Materials and Intelligent Sensing Laboratory of Anhui Province, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tao","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Conservation and Utilization of Dabie Mountain Characteristic Biological Resources, West Anhui University, Lu\u2019an 237012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingwen","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spin Electron and Nanomaterials of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Suzhou University, Suzhou 234000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spin Electron and Nanomaterials of Anhui Higher Education Institutes, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Suzhou University, Suzhou 234000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.1016\/0009-2614(74)85388-1","article-title":"Raman Spectra of Pyridine Adsorbed at a Silver Electrode","volume":"26","author":"Fleischmann","year":"1974","journal-title":"Chem. 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