High-Stability Defect Engineering in MOFs via Chemical Induction for Advanced SERS Substrate Preparation

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Chemical Sensing

Background:

• Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) relies on defects in semiconductor substrates.
• Induced vacancy defects improve SERS performance but are unstable in air.
• Self-healing of defects limits the long-term application of SERS sensors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To stabilize defect sites in metal-organic framework (MOF) SERS substrates.
• To investigate the stability and performance of chemically induced oxygen vacancy (CIVO) defects.
• To enhance the sensitivity and longevity of MOF-based SERS sensors.

Main Methods:

• Chemically inducing oxygen vacancies (CIVO) in MOF substrates.
• Assessing defect stability under atmospheric conditions for 100 days.
• Evaluating SERS performance using rhodamine 6G and p-aminoazobenzene as analytes.

Main Results:

• CIVO defects remained stable in atmospheric conditions for 100 days.
• Achieved a 3 orders of magnitude lower detection limit compared to pristine MOFs.
• Demonstrated sensitive and quantitative detection of target molecules.

Conclusions:

• Chemically induced stable oxygen vacancy defects significantly enhance MOF SERS performance.
• The CIVO defect strategy offers a promising approach for developing robust and highly sensitive SERS sensors.
• This method has broad applicability for improving MOF-based sensing technologies.