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Author Spotlight: Tracking Electrochemistry on Single Nanoparticles with Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy and Microscopy
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Portable surface-enhanced Raman scattering analysis performed with microelectrode-templated silver nanodendrites
Joshua Raveendran1, Aristides Docoslis
1QuSENS Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada. docoslis@queensu.ca.
The Analyst
|May 11, 2020
Summary
Researchers developed ultrasensitive silver nanodendritic substrates on microelectrodes for detecting analytes like cocaine and melamine. These novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates are highly sensitive and customizable for portable sensing.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology and Materials Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Spectroscopy
Background:
- Developing ultrasensitive and portable detection methods is crucial for various applications, including environmental monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics.
- Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) offers high sensitivity for molecular detection but requires optimized substrates.
- Microelectrode platforms provide a versatile base for fabricating customized sensing devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate the use of silver nanodendritic substrates on microelectrode platforms for ultrasensitive analyte detection.
- To develop a facile and customizable method for fabricating SERS substrates.
- To evaluate the sensitivity and accuracy of the developed SERS substrates for real-world sample analysis.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of silver nanodendritic substrates via electrochemical deposition of silver onto silicon microelectrode platforms using an alternating current (AC) signal.
- Optimization of nanostructure growth rate using a semi-batch process.
- Application of multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and linear classification) for analyte identification in complex matrices.
Main Results:
- Achieved a high nanostructure lateral growth rate of 8.90 ± 0.19 μm min-1.
- Developed SERS substrates demonstrated at least twice the sensitivity compared to a commercial benchmark.
- Successfully identified the pesticide thiram at 1 ppm in spiked apple juice with 100% accuracy using multivariate analysis without sample pre-processing.
Conclusions:
- The developed silver nanodendritic substrates on microelectrode platforms offer a highly sensitive and customizable approach for SERS-based detection.
- The integration of microelectrode platforms with SERS facilitates the development of portable and point-of-care sensing devices.
- The technique shows significant potential for rapid and accurate analysis of analytes in complex samples.
