Silver-Nanocellulose Composite Used as SERS Substrate for Detecting Carbendazim

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Nanocellulose, an abundant green resource, offers a large surface area suitable for nanomaterial loading.
• Its surface hydroxyl groups facilitate the adsorption and reduction of silver ions to form silver nanoparticles.
• This makes nanocellulose a promising substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a convenient and environmentally friendly method for fabricating silver-nanocellulose composites (NCF-Ag).
• To evaluate the performance of NCF-Ag as a substrate for SERS detection using carbendazim (CBZ) as a probe.
• To assess the homogeneity, reproducibility, stability, and sensitivity of the NCF-Ag SERS substrate.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of silver-nanocellulose composites (NCF-Ag) using an eco-friendly approach.
• Utilizing carbendazim (CBZ) as a probe molecule for SERS analysis.
• Characterizing the NCF-Ag material for homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability.
• Determining the limit of detection (LOD) and linearity of the SERS measurement for CBZ.

Main Results:

• The fabricated NCF-Ag exhibited good homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability.
• Carbendazim (CBZ) was detected with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.0 × 10^-8 M.
• A good linear relationship (R² = 0.98) was observed for CBZ detection in the concentration range of 10^-4 to 10^-7 M.

Conclusions:

• Silver-nanocellulose composites (NCF-Ag) are effectively fabricated using a green method.
• NCF-Ag serves as a highly sensitive and stable substrate for SERS analysis.
• The developed NCF-Ag SERS substrate shows potential for trace analysis of pesticides like carbendazim.