Flexible multiscale cavity with omnidirectionality and high stability for in-site SERS detection of nanoplastics on oyster

Abstract

Nanoplastics are widespread and pose a potential threat to human health. In this work, we designed a flexible multiscale cavity structured (MCS) surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate decorating Ni3S2 nanocavity on a modified polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microcavity. The dense two-dimensional Ni3S2 nanosheets can provide a large surface area for the deposition of plasmonic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), increasing the density and strength of the “hotspots”. Additionally, the nanocavity (width ∼500 nm), formed by the nanosheet surroundings, offers not only electromagnetic enhancement of the cavity mode for SERS but also a crucial detection site for nanoplastics attachment. This effectively addresses the challenge of SERS detection due to the scale mismatch between nanoplastics (>50 nm) and conventional “hotspots” (<10 nm). Moreover, the flexible imprinted PVDF microcavity endows the proposed substrate with omnidirectional “hotspots” enhancement, ensuring the signal stability and the feasibility of in-site detection of the actual sample. As a result, we achieved the successful in-site detection of polystyrene (PS) spheres of different sizes on the surface of oysters, with a detection limit of 10-3 mg/mL for 50 nm diameter. The flexible multiscale cavity SERS substrate is expected to show great potential in food safety and environmental monitoring.