Design and measurement technique of surface-enhanced Raman scattering for detection of bisphenol A

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a highly sensitive measurement technique that provides Raman peaks at different Raman shift for different molecule structures. The SERS sensor is potentially used to detect food contamination and monitor environmental pollutants. A self-developed SERS system for specific analysis with low development cost is a challenging issue. This study attempts to develop a simple SERS sensor system for detection of bisphenol A (BPA) molecule using SERS substrate of silver nanoplate film. A SERS sensor system was developed, consisting of a light source to excite analyte molecules, Inphotonic Raman probe, sensor chamber and spectrophotometer as an analyser system. A duplex fibre optic is used to transmit light from the source to the probe and from the probe to the spectrophotometer. For SERS measurement, BPA detection was done by comparing the Raman signal spectra of the BPA on the quartz substrate and BPA on the silver nanoplate film. This SERS sensor successfully sensed BPA with SERS enhancement factor (EF) 5.55 × 103 and a detection limit of BPA concentration at 1 mM.