Optimization and Characterization of Paper-Made Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Substrates with Au and Ag NPs for Quantitative Analysis.

Silvia Dalla Marta,Chiara Novara,Alois Bonifacio,Valter Sergo,Fabrizio Giorgis

doi:10.3390/ma10121365

Silvia Dalla Marta, Chiara Novara + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10121365

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Journal: Materials	Publication Date: Nov 28, 2017
Citations: 28	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Trieste, Polytechnic University of Turin

Abstract

In this work, we present a systematic study on solid Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) substrates consisting of Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) loaded on filter paper with the dip-coating method. The aim of this work is to explore how a series of parameters (e.g., concentration of colloidal solution, different porosity of filter paper, and the presence of an aggregating agent) affects the analytical performance of paper-based SERS substrates. All the substrates developed in this study have been analyzed with two non-resonant probe molecules, 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) and adenine, in terms of (i) inter-sample repeatability, (ii) intra-sample repeatability, (iii) sensitivity, and (iv) overall SERS performance in terms of analyte quantification. Moreover, the issue of how to evaluate the repeatability for a solid SERS substrate is carefully discussed.

Highlights

The use of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) with solid substrates for sensing has been growing considerably [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) are examples of metal nanostructures that are able to enhance the Raman signal by several orders of magnitude for energy excitation close to their plasmon resonances [9,10,11]
Substrates with FE-Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission electron microscope (FE-SEM),and andthe theobtained obtained images and Au SERS substrates were were characterized characterized with images areare reported inin

Summary

Introduction

The use of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) with solid substrates for sensing has been growing considerably [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The power of SERS relies on retaining the advantages of normal Raman, such as high specificity, coupled with the possibility to work in an aqueous environment while overcoming the limits due to a low sensitivity. This can be achieved by exploiting the plasmonic properties of nanostructured metal surfaces. In spite of the many pros of SERS, there are still challenges to be faced on the way to its widespread and routine use as a reliable analytical technique In this sense, one of the main well-recognized challenges for the SERS community is the development of inexpensive, repeatable, easy to handle, and durable solid SERS substrates [1,2,12,13,14]

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