Highly crystalline ZnO film decorated with gold nanospheres for PIERS chemical sensing

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the study of a novel type of substrate based on a highly crystalline ZnO film photo-irradiated by UV for enhancing Raman signal. This effect...

Oxygen Vacancy Dynamics in Highly Crystalline Zinc Oxide Film Investigated by PIERS Effect

“…In addition, the SERS effect is also very useful for studying the surface catalytic reactions in order to know their mechanism and their intermediate species involved in these reactions [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In this SERS field, an alternative section has emerged named photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy (PIERS), which gives the possibility of having supplementary chemical enhancement of the Raman signal compared to conventional SERS, by employing a photo-activated semiconductor substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. This supplementary chemical enhancement is due to the presence of surface oxygen vacancies (V ) created during the pre-irradiation of the semiconductor substrate by UV light [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

“…In this SERS field, an alternative section has emerged named photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy (PIERS), which gives the possibility of having supplementary chemical enhancement of the Raman signal compared to conventional SERS, by employing a photo-activated semiconductor substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. This supplementary chemical enhancement is due to the presence of surface oxygen vacancies (V ) created during the pre-irradiation of the semiconductor substrate by UV light [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. In the literature, it is well-reported that UV light can allow the creation of defects/vacancies in different materials (nanostructured or not), such as metal oxides [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], silicon dioxide [ 25 , 26 ], and single-wall carbon nanotubes [ 27 ], for instance.…”

“…This supplementary chemical enhancement is due to the presence of surface oxygen vacancies (V ) created during the pre-irradiation of the semiconductor substrate by UV light [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. In the literature, it is well-reported that UV light can allow the creation of defects/vacancies in different materials (nanostructured or not), such as metal oxides [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], silicon dioxide [ 25 , 26 ], and single-wall carbon nanotubes [ 27 ], for instance. In addition, the production of the oxygen vacancies (V ) permits enhancing the Raman signal of chemical molecules through charge transfer processes between the photo-irradiated semiconductor film (or other structures) and these chemical molecules via metallic nanoparticles deposited on this photo-irradiated substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

“…In the literature, it is well-reported that UV light can allow the creation of defects/vacancies in different materials (nanostructured or not), such as metal oxides [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], silicon dioxide [ 25 , 26 ], and single-wall carbon nanotubes [ 27 ], for instance. In addition, the production of the oxygen vacancies (V ) permits enhancing the Raman signal of chemical molecules through charge transfer processes between the photo-irradiated semiconductor film (or other structures) and these chemical molecules via metallic nanoparticles deposited on this photo-irradiated substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. This PIERS effect has already been used for sensitive detection of several molecules such as thiophenol [ 19 , 28 ], explosives [ 17 ], pollutants [ 17 ] and toxic organics [ 29 ].…”

“…In addition, the production of the oxygen vacancies (V ) permits enhancing the Raman signal of chemical molecules through charge transfer processes between the photo-irradiated semiconductor film (or other structures) and these chemical molecules via metallic nanoparticles deposited on this photo-irradiated substrate [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. This PIERS effect has already been used for sensitive detection of several molecules such as thiophenol [ 19 , 28 ], explosives [ 17 ], pollutants [ 17 ] and toxic organics [ 29 ]. In addition, this PIERS effect can also be employed for the investigation of the dynamics of these surface oxygen vacancies V in metal-oxide semiconductor surfaces.…”