A Review of SERS-Based Bacterial Detection from Nanomaterials to Integrated Clinical Platforms

Abstract

Pathogenic bacterial infections remain a persistent global public health crisis. However, traditional clinical detection methods—such as culture-based assays and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)—are often time-consuming and labor-intensive, and they lack sufficient sensitivity for low-abundance pathogens, hindering rapid point-of-care diagnosis. With label-free, ultra-sensitive molecular fingerprinting, Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) has emerged as a powerful tool for rapid pathogen identification. This review summarizes the evolution of SERS-based bacterial detection from fundamental nanomaterials to integrated clinical diagnostic platforms. The article explores four core dimensions: functional integration and enrichment strategies of colloidal probes; structural design and multifaceted capture mechanisms of solid substrates; synergistic advantages of microfluidic systems in enabling automated “sample-to-answer” architectures; and the translational potential of SERS-based lateral flow assays (LFAs) for robust point-of-care testing (POCT). This review reveals a research shift from maximizing electromagnetic enhancement toward overcoming matrix effects in clinical samples and ensuring robustness. In synergy with microfluidics, LFAs, and AI, SERS technology is bridging the bench-to-bedside gap, offering a roadmap for next-generation decentralized, high-precision diagnostics.