Issue 6, 2017

Electrosprayed large-area membranes of Ag-nanocubes embedded in cellulose acetate microspheres as homogeneous SERS substrates

Abstract

For surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based detection, it is desirable that the SERS substrates should not only have high SERS sensitivity, but also remarkable SERS-signal reproducibility and a good affinity for the target analytes. Herein, we report large-area membranes of plasmonic Ag-nanocubes (Ag-NCs) embedded in cellulose acetate (CA) microspheres (MSs) (denoted as Ag-NCs@CA-MSs), achieved by the electrospray technique, as highly sensitive and extremely homogeneous SERS substrates with good capture ability for analyte molecules in an aqueous solution. As a result, p-aminothiophenol (a probe molecule) and methyl parathion (a toxic pesticide) with concentrations down to 10−9 M and 10−7 M could be detected, respectively. Importantly, the membranes showed remarkable SERS-signal homogeneity over a large area, with a relative signal deviation down to 2.8% in a 500 × 500 μm2 area and 9.6% for the whole substrate (5 × 5 mm2). Moreover, Langmuir nonlinear fitting of the Raman intensity against the methyl parathion concentration was achieved, with a double-reciprocal plot of the Raman peak intensity versus the concentration showing a good linear relationship, making it possible for the quantitative SERS-based detection. Therefore, the Ag-NCs@CA-MS membranes showed potential for the quantitative SERS-based analysis of organic pollutants in the aqueous solution.

Graphical abstract: Electrosprayed large-area membranes of Ag-nanocubes embedded in cellulose acetate microspheres as homogeneous SERS substrates

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Oct 2016
Accepted
23 Dec 2016
First published
28 Dec 2016

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017,5, 1402-1408

Electrosprayed large-area membranes of Ag-nanocubes embedded in cellulose acetate microspheres as homogeneous SERS substrates

Y. Ke, G. Meng, Z. Huang and N. Zhou, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2017, 5, 1402 DOI: 10.1039/C6TC04579K

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