Abstract
We propose the use of gold nanoparticles grown on the surface of nanoporous TiO2 films as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors for the detection of 17β-estradiol. Gold deposition on top of a TiO2 surface leads to the formation of nanoparticles the plasmonic properties of which fulfil the requirements of a SERS sensor. The morphological and optical properties of the surface were investigated. Specifically, we demonstrate that the TiO2 background pressure during pulsed laser deposition and the annealing conditions offer control over the formation of Au nanoparticles with different sizes, shapes and distributions, yielding a versatile sensor. We have exploited the surface for the detection of 17β-estradiol, an emerging contaminant in environmental waters. We have found a limit of detection of 1 nM with a sensitivity allowing for a dynamic range of five orders of magnitude (up to 100 µM).
Highlights
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a sensing tool requires the optimization of a surface and its functionalization
We propose the use of gold nanoparticles grown on the surface of nanoporous TiO2 films as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors for the detection of 17β-estradiol
Gold deposition on top of a TiO2 surface leads to the formation of nanoparticles the plasmonic properties of which fulfil the requirements of a SERS sensor
Summary
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a sensing tool requires the optimization of a surface and its functionalization. They are relatively cheap and their chemistry is easy to tune so that they can attach to a metallic surface They can be selected to be short enough to guarantee that the targeted molecule is in the enhancement volume of the plasmonic nanoparticle (the effect of SERS decreases exponentially with the distance from the surface and is negligible beyond 5 nm). Another interesting feature of aptamers is that their Raman fingerprint is recognizable, as DNA is an extensively studied molecule. The spectra presented here are the average of four spectra taken at different locations of each sample
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