An ultra-stable and sensitive Ag-HP-β-CD/GO/NCF SERS substrate combine with the coffee-ring effect strategy for trace PAHs detection

Abstract

This study proposes an ultra-stable and highly sensitive SERS substrate based on Ag nanoparticles/graphene oxide nanosheets hybrids decorated nanocellulose fiber (Ag/GO/NCF), which was further functionalized with hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (Ag-HP-β-CD/GO/NCF) for the trace detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The Ag/GO hybrid structure enables the substrate to exhibit high SERS activity through the synergistic effect of electromagnetic and chemical enhancement. Simultaneously, the three-dimensional skeleton structure of NCF serves as a support matrix, ensuring the exceptional stability of the substrate. Furthermore, this study introduces a SERS measurement strategy utilizing the coffee-ring effect and explores parameters optimization to further enhance the detection sensitivity while maintaining the homogeneity and reproducibility. With the affinity effect of HP-β-CD and the enrichment effect of the delocalized π-electron system in GO, the hydrophobic PAHs could easily approach the SERS hotspots and achieve their trace detection. The limit of detection (LOD) for four representative PAHs, including pyrene, fluoranthene, phenanthrene and fluorene, are found to be 3.32 ug/L, 3.65 ug/L, 40.97 ug/L and 56.24 ug/L, respectively. These results highlight the potential application of this highly efficient SERS platform in environmental monitoring.