Steel Wire Mesh as a Thermally Resistant SERS Substrate

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Spectroscopy
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique.
• Conventional SERS substrates can suffer from thermal degradation of analytes due to laser heating.
• There is a need for robust SERS platforms resistant to high temperatures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, thermally resistant SERS platform.
• To evaluate the sensitivity, reproducibility, and applicability of the new platform for chemical and biological sample analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a SERS substrate by coating stainless steel wire mesh (SSWM) with a thin silver layer (Ag/SSWM).
• Characterization of the Ag/SSWM substrate's SERS performance using p-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA).
• Testing the substrate's ability to differentiate between Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria.

Main Results:

• The Ag/SSWM substrate demonstrated high sensitivity with an Enhancement Factor (EF) of 10⁶.
• Excellent reproducibility was achieved, with a Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of 6.4% for p-MBA detection.
• The platform enabled label-free and reproducible differentiation of bacterial species, overcoming thermal degradation issues.

Conclusions:

• The developed Ag/SSWM platform is a cost-effective, thermally resistant SERS substrate.
• It offers high sensitivity and selectivity for analyzing diverse chemical and biological samples.
• This novel substrate overcomes limitations of conventional SERS platforms regarding thermal stability.