Multifunctional Au‐Coated TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays as Recyclable SERS Substrates for Multifold Organic Pollutants Detection

Abstract

A multifunctional Au‐coated TiO2 nanotube array is made via synthesis of a TiO2 nanotube array through a ZnO template, followed by deposition of Au particles onto the TiO2 surface using photocatalytic deposition and a hydrothermal method, respectively. Such arrays exhibit superior detection sensitivity with high reproducibility and stability. In addition, due to possessing stable catalytic properties, the arrays can clean themselves by photocatalytic degradation of target molecules adsorbed to the substrate under irradiation with UV light into inorganic small molecules using surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection, so that recycling can be achieved. Finally, by detection of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye, herbicide 4‐chlorophenol (4‐CP), persistent organic pollutant (POP) dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4‐D), and organophosphate pesticide methyl‐parathion (MP), the unique recyclable properties indicate a new route in eliminating the single‐use problem of traditional SERS substrates and show promising applications for detecting other organic pollutants.

Micro‐/Nanostructured Highly Crystalline Organic Semiconductor Films for Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Applications

“…These studies demonstrated the key role of metal contact on top of the semiconductor fi lm for SERS-based quantitative measurements. [14][15][16] Despite recent advances with inorganic semiconductors, to the best of our knowledge, the employment of π-conjugated organic semiconductors for SERS applications has never been demonstrated in the literature. This is rather surprising since organic semiconductors exhibit exceptional charge transport/light manipulation properties and excellent contact formation with metals such as Au and Ag in various optoelectronic devices such as organic fi eld-effect transistors (OFETs), [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), [ 30 ] and organic photovoltaics (OPVs).…”

Facile Preparation of Silver Halide Nanoparticles as Visible Light Photocatalysts

“…The photocatalyst can be a semiconductor, which can create electron-hole pairs under photo-illumination [7]. Additionally, in recent years, researchers have investigated the catalysts of oxides.…”

Plasmon management in index engineered 2.5D hybrid nanostructures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

“…However, the effect of the SWs or the LMR in modulating the total effective E field has been ignored or addressed inadequately. The fact that Ag-or AuNP-dispersed vertically aligned 1D NW/nanorods 10 supported on a 2D wafer, to be called 2.5D hereafter, are better SERS performers [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] indicates a role for both the LMR and the SWs; however, this role has not yet been reported. Such a study is difficult but immensely useful because the hybrid (metal-semiconductor) nanostructures can be used for a wide range of applications such as SERS, [16][17][18] photonics, 4,5 renewable energy 3 and biomedicine.…”