A new semiconductor heterojunction SERS substrate for ultra-sensitive detection of antibiotic residues in egg

Antibiotic residues in animal-derived food (egg) are threatening human health. Semiconductor heterojunction surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates can be used for ultra-sensitive detection of antibiotic residues in egg. Here, a TiO₂/ZnO heterojunction was developed as a new SERS substrate based on an interface engineering strategy. Due to strong interfacial coupling and efficient carrier separating in heterostructure, utilization rate of photo-induced electrons in substrate was improved greatly, which realized the efficient charge transfer in substrate-molecule system, resulting in a prominent SERS enhancement. Taking the detection of enrofloxacin residue in egg as an example, the limit of detection (LOD) is only 13.1 μg/kg, which is far below the European Union standard, and lower than LODs of other conventional analytical methods and existing noble metal-based SERS methods. More importantly, benefiting from high sensitivity and selectivity of heterojunction and fingerprint characteristics of SERS, multiple antibiotic residues in egg can be identified simultaneously.