Perfluoro- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are
widely used
throughout the world and are extensively found in the environment.
The detection of PFAS has become essential to ensuring environmental
sustainability and human health. Herein, AuNRs were synthesized by
the seed growth method and then the samples were coated with silver
shells to form Au@Ag core–shell nanorods (Au@AgNRs). Au@AgNRs
monolayer was prepared by oil–water self-assembly on a silicon
wafer and then was constructed as a plasmonic AgNPs/Au@AgNRs sandwich
structure for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of
PFAS. The shell thickness of Au@AgNRs was optimized and displayed
a 11.9-fold SERS intensity higher than the pristine AuNRs. Moreover,
the hotspots generated by the electromagnetic field coupling between
the interlayer gap achieved 3.6-fold SERS signal enhancement compared
to that of the Au@AgNRs monolayer. Besides, the excellent structural
uniformity (RSD ∼ 8.0%) makes it ideal for quantitative SERS
detection applications. More importantly, the use of the AgNPs/Au@AgNRs
sandwich structure sensor enables the highly sensitive detection of
model molecules (10–11 M) and quantitative detection
of a wide range of fluorinated alkyl substances of perfluorooctanoic
acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), and potassium perfluorobutanesulfonate
(PPFBS), even with a portable Raman device. And the detection concentration
can be down to 0.1 ppm for PFAS. This sensitive and quantitative SERS
technique has promising prospects in the monitoring of fluorinated
alkyl substance contaminations.