Benchtop Fabricated Nano-Roughened Microstructured Electrodes for Electrochemical and Surface-Enhanced Raman...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Hierarchical micro- to nanoscale surface structures are crucial for developing sensitive detection platforms.
• Fabrication methods need to be simple, inexpensive, and produce high-density surface features.

Purpose of the Study:

• To generate gold surfaces with hierarchical roughness using benchtop techniques for sensing applications.
• To evaluate the performance of these surfaces in electrochemical and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection.

Main Methods:

• Hierarchical gold electrodes were fabricated on pre-stressed polystyrene substrates using electroless deposition and amperometric pulsing.
• Optimized fabrication parameters (1 mm H[AuCl₄], 80 pulses) yielded the highest electroactive surface area.
• Nanoroughened surfaces (100 pulses) were characterized for SERS performance.

Main Results:

• Electrodes with 80 pulses showed the highest electroactive surface area.
• Enzyme-free glucose detection achieved a limit of detection of 0.36 µM, below human blood levels.
• SERS detection of rhodamine 6G showed an enhancement factor of ~2 × 10⁶.
• SERS detection of thiophenol showed an enhancement factor of ~30 compared to microstructured gold.

Conclusions:

• Simple and low-cost fabrication of hierarchical gold surfaces is achievable.
• These surfaces are effective for sensitive electrochemical and SERS-based sensing.
• The method holds promise for accelerating the development of advanced sensing devices.