Rapid and Efficient Identification of Bacteria Using Gold‐Nanoparticle–Poly(<i>para</i>‐phenyleneethynylene) Constructs

Abstract

Microbiological intelligence: Simple constructs of hydrophobically functionalized gold nanoarticles and a conjugated polymer (poly(para-phenyleneethynylene, PPE) are able to identify three different strains of E. coli in minutes. The negatively charged bacteria replace the negatively charged conjugated polymers from the positively charged gold nanoparticles (see scheme), differentially restoring the polymer fluorescence.