Capture, detection and removal of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from water, air and
soil are among the hot topics of research in environmental science. Here we report the first
example of indirect ultrasensitive detection of polychlorinated biphenyls in water, obtained
by analysing the Raman signals of silver-cyclodextrin supracrystals resulting from drying-
induced aggregation of plasmonic alginate bubbles. Principal component analysis allowed
to extend the detection limit to the level of 1 ng/L, which is two orders of magnitude lower …