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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1571986
This article is part of the Research Topic Research on the Future Application of Biomass in the Renewable Chemicals Industry View all articles
Exploring the microbial pigment violacein application as sustainable probe molecule for recycled paperbased SERS substrate
Provisionally accepted
Alessia Tropea 1
Donatella Spadaro 2*
Dario Giuffrida 2*
Sebastiano Trusso 2 Daniele Giuffrida 3 Tania Maria Grazia Salerno 1
JULIO MONTAÑEZ 4
Lourdes Morales-Oyervides 4 Luigi Mondello 1,5
Rosina Celeste Ponterio 2- 1 Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
- 2 Institute for Physical Chemical Processes, Department of Chemical Sciences and Materials Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Messina, Italy
- 3 Neuroradiology Unit, Department of Biomedical, Dental Science and Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
- 4 Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Saltillo, Coahuila1 4, Mexico
- 5 Chromaleont S.r.l., Messina, Italy
Paper and board represent 10% -39% of the total municipal solid waste generated. In order to address the European Commission (EC) recycling targets, this study aimed to develop flexible SERS (Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy) recycled-paper-based substrates tested by using a new eco-friendly and nontoxic molecule probe. This study reports for the first time the implementation of the microbial dye violacein, obtained by Janthinobacterium lividum batch cultivation, as SERS probe, as a suitable substitutive to the most employed toxic chemical dye Rhodamine 6G (R6G). The interaction of the proposed natural probe with the metal surface after the adsorption and the presence of local electromagnetic fields were evaluated by computational approach. The SERS devices developed were decorated by applying a single-step pulsed laser deposition (PLD) decoration method and characterized using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The platform showed a remarkable sensitivity, achieving a detection limit of 10 -7 M for violacein, allowing to point out the strong potential of this natural microbial dye as a sustainable probe molecule for low-concentration analytes detection on SERS-active substrates, making them suitable for several application fields, such as environmental monitoring, food safety, cultural heritage analysis and diagnostics. This study demonstrates the feasibility of implementing eco-friendly materials in the development of chemical sensors as a sustainable innovation in environmental science by minimizing the ecological impact.
Keywords: Violacein, Recycled-paper, Municipal solid waste, SERS sensor, SERS probe, circular bioeconomy Font: Not Bold Moved (insertion) [2] Raman spectra of acted as hotspots, inducing strong SERS substrates have, allowing characteristic Indent: First line: 7.5 mm, Space After: 4 pt, Line spacing: Multiple 1.15 li English (UK)
Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 03 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tropea, Spadaro, Giuffrida, Trusso, Giuffrida, Salerno, MONTAÑEZ, Morales-Oyervides, Mondello and Ponterio. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Donatella Spadaro, Institute for Physical Chemical Processes, Department of Chemical Sciences and Materials Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Messina, 98158, Italy
Dario Giuffrida, Institute for Physical Chemical Processes, Department of Chemical Sciences and Materials Technologies, National Research Council (CNR), Messina, 98158, Italy
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