In-Situ Grown Silver Nanoparticles on Nonwoven Fabrics Based on Mussel-Inspired Polydopamine for Highly Sensitive SERS Carbaryl Pesticides Detection

Abstract

The rapid sampling and efficient collection of target molecules from a real-world surface is fairly crucial for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to detect trace pesticide residues in the environment and in agriculture fields. In this work, a versatile approach was exploited to fabricate a flexible SERS substrate for highly sensitive detection of carbaryl pesticides, using in-situ grown silver nanoparticles (AgNPs)on non-woven (NW) fabric surfaces based on mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) molecules. The obtained NW@PDA@AgNPs fabrics showed extremely sensitive and reproducible SERS signals toward crystal violet (CV) molecules, and the detection limit was as low as 1.0 × 10−12 M. More importantly, these NW@PDA@AgNPs fabrics could be directly utilized as flexible SERS substrates for the rapid extraction and detection of trace carbaryl pesticides from various fruit surfaces through a simple swabbing approach. It was identified that the detection limits of carbaryl residues from apple, orange, and banana surfaces were approximately decreased to 4.02 × 10−12, 6.04 × 10−12, and 5.03 × 10−12 g, respectively, demonstrating high sensitivity and superior reliability. These flexible substrates could not only drastically increase the collection efficiency from multifarious irregular-shaped matrices, but also greatly enhance analytical sensitivity and reliability for carbaryl pesticides. The fabricated flexible and multifunctional SERS substrates would have great potential to trace pesticide residue detection in the environment and bioscience fields.

Mussel-Inspired Fabrication of SERS Swabs for Highly Sensitive and Conformal Rapid Detection of Thiram Bactericides

“…Recently, the emerging flexible SERS substrates have provided an excellent opportunity to achieve the sensitive SERS detection of trace target molecules from uneven or rugged surfaces [22,23,24]. For example, various metallic nanostructures have been intensively utilized and have decorated the papers, cottons, sponges and copolymers to serve as SERS flexible substrates [17,25,26].…”

Controllable In-Situ Growth of Silver Nanoparticles on Filter Paper for Flexible and Highly Sensitive SERS Sensors for Malachite Green Residue Detection

“…Since surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)can combine ultra-sensitive and unlabeled detection, it has recently garnered considerable attention in the analytical chemistry, biomedical diagnostics, food safety, environmental monitoring and national security fields [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. The effect of SERS is greatly affected by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).…”

Large-Scale Fabrication of Nanostructure on Bio-Metallic Substrate for Surface Enhanced Raman and Fluorescence Scattering

“…Recently, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has received increased research interest, as it can allow for high sensitivity and selectivity in biochemical detection such as detection of carbaryl pesticide residues, exploring the metabolism of bacterial cells and so on [1,2,3,4]. The enhancement factors (EFs) of SERS is up to 10 14 , which makes it possible to detect a single molecule [5].…”