Multifunctional self-assembled gold nanorod monolayer/Ti3C2Tx nanocomposites based on interfacial electrostatic for highly sensitive SERS detection of organic dyes and adenine

Abstract

Gold nanorods (Au NRs)/Ti 3 C 2 T x composites were prepared by self-assembly method as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates. Due to strong electrostatic interaction, Au NRs are evenly arranged on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets, forming rich SERS hotspots. Au NRs/Ti 3 C 2 T x have high sensitivity and good reproducibility for the determination of organic dyes such as rhodamine 6G, crystal violet and malachite green. The detection limits were 1 × 10 −13 , 1 × 10 −13 and 1 × 10 −12 M, respectively. The relative standard deviations of samples in 40 areas were 4.57 %, 2.79 % and 3.47 %, respectively. The synthesized SERS substrate is sensitive to adenine. For adenine molecules in the range of 1 × 10 −5 –1 × 10 −9 M, SERS results show that the peak intensity is linear with adenine molecular concentration, and the detection limit can be as low as 1 × 10 −9 M. In addition, adenine in aqueous solution has good anti-interference ability to other nucleic acids with similar structure, such as guanine, cytosine and thymine. Therefore, Au NRs/Ti 3 C 2 T x are expected to become a potential substrate for unmarked, rapid and sensitive SERS detection of adenine in the field of bioanalysis. • A SERS substrate based on gold nanorods (Au NRs)/Ti 3 C 2 T x composites is proposed. • The Au NRs/Ti 3 C 2 T x substrate has high SERS sensitivity for adenine molecules. • It also has high sensitivity and good reproducibility in the determination of common organic dyes.