Arrays of Ag-nanoparticles decorated TiO2 nanotubes as reusable three-dimensional surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates for molecule detection

Abstract

Three-dimensional surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates usually provide more hot spots in the excitation light beam and higher sensitivity when compared with the two-dimensional counterpart. Here a simple approach is presented for the fabrication of arrays of Ag-nanoparticles decorated TiO2 nanotubes. Arrays of ZnO nanorods were fabricated in advance by a hydrothermal method. Then TiO2 nanotube arrays were achieved by immersing the arrays of ZnO nanorods in an aqueous solution of (NH4)2TiF6 for 1.5 h. Vertically aligned TiO2 nanotube arrays were modified with dense Ag nanoparticles by Ag mirror reaction. High density of Ag nanoparticles decorated on the fabricated TiO2 nanotubes provide plenty of hotspots for Raman enhancement. In addition, the fabricated array of Ag nanoparticles modified TiO2 nanotubes can serve as a reusable SERS substrate because of the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 nanotubes. The SERS substrate adsorbed with analyte molecules can realize self-cleaning in deionized water after UV irradiation for 2.5 h. The sensitivity of the fabricated SERS substrate was investigated by the detection of organic dye molecules. The detectable concentration limits of rhodamine 6G (R6G), malachite green (MG) and methylene blue (MB) were found to be 10−12 M, 10−9 M and 10−8 M, respectively. The enhancement factor (EF) of the three-dimensional SERS substrate was estimated to be as high as ∼1.4×108. Therefore, the prepared Ag nanoparticles modified TiO2 nanotube arrays have promising potentials to be applied to rapid and trace SERS detection of organic chemicals.

A manganese dioxide–silver nanostructure-based SERS nanoplatform for ultrasensitive tricyclazole detection in rice samples: effects of semiconductor morphology on charge transfer efficiency and SERS analytical performance

“…2a). These bands are assigned to the symmetric Mn-O vibrations and are characteristic of a-MnO 2 with a (2 Â 2) tunnel, 32 which is in agreement with the XRD results.…”

“…As the active material was loaded on the Al substrate after synthesis, the RSD value was still higher than those of several other SERS sensing systems, in which active materials were grown directly on the measuring substrates, indicating its lower uniformity. 31,32 However, our approach showed the advantage of simple preparation. Moreover, it could be more convenient to load this material on/in other substrates, such as paper and microfluidic ones.…”

Spontaneous Redox-Reaction-Driven Growth of Ag Nanoparticles on Co(OH)2 Nanoflower Arrays for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

“…With the development of SERS substrates, various nanomaterials and nanostructures have been widely used in the preparation of substrates. In addition to noble metal nanomaterials, semiconductor nanomaterials such as ZnO, TiO 2 , and MoS 2 are often utilized in SERS research, − because they can be developed into various forms such as nanorods, , nanospheres, nanowires, nanotubes, − and nanosheets. , However, there are few reports on the application of hydroxides in the SERS substrate. Some layered hydroxides have a large number of active surface groups or hydroxyl groups, which contribute to the adsorption of probe molecules, thus displaying a particular SERS activity.…”