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Author Spotlight: Development and Application of SERS Flexible Substrates Using Synthesized AgNPs
Published on: November 17, 2023
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Hybridizing Silver Nanoparticles in Hydrogel for High-Performance Flexible SERS Chips.
Mingming Chen1, Jiaxin Zhang1, Xiajun Zhu1
1MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350025, China.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|May 23, 2022
Summary
New hydrogel SERS chips with silver nanoparticle aggregates and carbon dots offer high sensitivity and stability for detecting contaminants. These flexible chips enable on-site monitoring of food and environmental samples with minimal pretreatment.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Ideal surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates require high sensitivity, stability, repeatability, and anti-interference.
- Existing SERS substrates often face limitations in practical applications due to these factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel hydrogel SERS chips by hybridizing silver nanoparticle aggregates capped with carbon dots (a-AgNPs/CDs) with a hydrogel matrix.
- To evaluate the performance of these hydrogel SERS chips for sensitive and reliable detection of various analytes.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of single-layer carbon-based dot (CD)-capped Ag nanoparticle aggregates (a-AgNPs/CDs).
- Hybridization of a-AgNPs/CDs with a hydrogel to create flexible SERS chips.
- Performance evaluation using crystal violet as a model analyte, assessing sensitivity, stability, repeatability, and reproducibility.
- Application in detecting thiram and 2-(4-thiazolyl)benzimidazole in real-world samples (soybean milk, juices, fruits).
Main Results:
- The hydrogel SERS chips demonstrated a low detection limit of ~1 × 10⁻¹⁶ mol/L for crystal violet.
- High SERS activity was maintained (>96.40%) after 14 weeks of storage, indicating excellent long-term stability.
- Outstanding repeatability (RSD as low as 1.43% within a chip) and reproducibility (RSD as low as 2.75% between chips) were achieved.
- Effective detection of thiram and 2-(4-thiazolyl)benzimidazole in liquid and on fruit peel samples with low detection limits (ppb and ng/cm² levels).
Conclusions:
- The developed hydrogel SERS chips exhibit superior performance characteristics for SERS applications.
- The self-extraction capability of the hydrogel allows for analysis of complex samples without extensive pretreatment.
- These flexible SERS chips provide a promising platform for rapid, on-site detection and monitoring of chemical contaminants in various matrices.
