Polysaccharide-based substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) requires effective metallic substrates for nanoparticle immobilization.
• Developing advanced SERS substrates is crucial for enhancing analytical sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare, characterize, and apply a novel SERS substrate for sensitive crystal violet (CV) detection.
• To investigate the potential of fungal botryosphaeran as a SERS substrate material.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a SERS substrate with a botryosphaeran inner layer and laser-ablated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs).
• Characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-VIS, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
• Application in SERS detection of crystal violet (CV).

Main Results:

• The substrate demonstrated significant SERS amplification for CV detection, achieving enhancement factors up to 10^6.
• Linearity was observed for CV detection in the concentration range of 0.005 to 1 µmol L⁻¹.
• The substrate achieved a detection limit of 12 pmol cm⁻² for CV, outperforming silver colloids.

Conclusions:

• The developed botryosphaeran-AgNP SERS substrate is a highly efficient and sensitive platform for CV detection.
• Laser ablation is a viable method for preparing AgNPs for SERS applications.
• This novel substrate shows promise for various analytical applications requiring high sensitivity detection.