Abstract
We report the fabrication and performance evaluation of cost-effective, reproducible silver nanodendrite (AgND) substrates, possessing high-density trunks and branches, achieved by a simple electroless etching process and subsequently utilized them for the trace detection of 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (Research Development Explosive, RDX) and Ammonium Nitrate (AN). The intricate structural features in AgNDs offer high-density hotspots for effective molecular detection based on the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique. The active SERS-substrate was initially tested with standard Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules at 1 nM concentration, which established an effective enhancement factor (EF) of ∼108. The AgNDs were subsequently utilized in the detection of the explosives RDX and AN, down to concentrations of 1 μM. The typical EF achieved in the case of RDX and AN was ∼104. The sensitivity of 1 μM R6G was further enhanced by two-fold through the deposition of Au nanoparticles on the AgNDs. The reproducibility of the low-cost substrate was also demonstrated, with a ∼9% RSD value in the measurements.
Highlights
Raman spectroscopy has proven to be a versatile analytical tool in recent years, with several practical applications
The highly branched plasmonic silver nanodendrites were fabricated by electroless deposition for efficient molecular detection
Morphological changes were observed as a function of AgNO3 deposition temperature
Summary
Raman spectroscopy has proven to be a versatile analytical tool in recent years, with several practical applications This technique has the capability to identify chemical and biological molecules in many areas such as chemical production, biochemistry, food safety, and environmental pollution.[1,2,3,4,5,6] it has limitations in terms of the sensitivity of molecular detection at trace levels, due to its limited scattering cross-section. This phenomenon has been extensively applied to metal nanostructures for effective molecular detection viz. SERS has been proven to have a tremendous impact on the detection capability, even down to the single-molecule level, with enhancements as large as 1014.7–9 The SERS enhancement is fundamentally correlated with two kinds of mechanisms: chemical (CM) and electromagnetic (EM) enhancements.[10,11,12] In the present scenario, a challenging task is to fabricate affordable, stable, and reproducible SERS-active substrates with a sufficient number of hotspots to achieve sensitive detection
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
