Semi-quantitative analysis of indigo carmine, using silver colloids, by surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS)

Abstract

The application of surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS) to the semi-quantitative analysis of the dye, indigo carmine, has been examined using citrate-reduced silver colloids. Good linear correlations are observed for the dye band at 1580 cm −1 in the concentration range 10 −7–10 −5 and 10 −9–10 −5 mol dm −3, using laser exciting wavelengths of 514.5 [( R=0.9983)] and 632.8 nm [( R=0.9978)], respectively. At concentrations of dye above 10 −6 M the concentration dependence of the SERRS signals is non-linear due to the coverage of the surface of the colloidal particles by the dye being in excess of a full monolayer. At concentrations above 10 −6 M resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) can be employed for the quantitative analysis of the dye. An internal standard was used and a good linear correlation ( R=0.997) was observed for the dependence of dye signal intensities at 1580 cm −1 in the concentration range 10 −5–10 −4 M using a laser exciting wavelength of 514.5 nm. The limits of detection of indigo carmine by SERRS (514.5 nm), SERRS (632.8 nm) and solution RRS (514.5 nm) are found to be 0.9, 1 and 38 ppm, respectively.