Thermoelectrically Driven Dual-Mechanism Regulation on SERS and Application Potential for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Viruses and Microplastics

Abstract

Electric-induced surface-enhanced Raman scattering (E-SERS) has been widely studied for its flexible regulation of SERS after the substrate is prepared. However, the enhancement effect is not sufficiently high in the E-SERS technology reported thus far, and no suitable field of application exists. In this study, a highly sensitive thermoelectrically induced SERS substrate, Ag/ graphene/ZnO (AGZ), was fabricated using ZnO nanoarrays (NRs), graphene, and Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Applying a temperature gradient to the ZnO NRs enhanced the SERS signals of the probe molecules by a factor of approximately 20. Theoretical and experimental results showed that the thermoelectric potential enables the simultaneous modulation of the Fermi energy level of graphene and the plasma resonance peak of Ag NPs, resulting in a double enhancement in terms of physical and chemical mechanisms. The AGZ substrate was then combined with a mask to create a wearable thermoelectrically enhanced SERS mask for collecting SARS-CoV-2 viruses and microplastics. Its SERS signal can be enhanced by the temperature gradient created between a body heat source (∼37 °C) and a cold environment. The suitability of this method for virus detection was also examined using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen detection. This work offers new horizons for research of E-SERS, and its application potential for rapid detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and microplastics was also studied.

Integrated Photoelectrochemical-SERS Platform Based on Plasmonic Metal–Semiconductor Heterostructures for Multidimensional Charge Transfer Analysis and Enhanced Patulin Detection

“…First, the distance interval caused by voltage weakens the enhancement effect of the local electric field (Figure e). In addition, the voltage-driven Au NRs regulate the flow of electrons to the external circuit, , which reduces the flow of electrons to the HUMO of CdTe/Yb-TCPP. The enhanced effect of electron transport is weakened due to the competition of the photocurrent for electrons, resulting in a reduced SERS intensity compared to the absence of Au NRs at negative voltages.…”