title: ZnO-Ag hybrids for ultrasensitive detection of trinitrotoluene by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
abstract: An efficient and green approach was used to fabricate novel and low-cost surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy sensors based on 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) functionalized ZnO-Ag hybrid nanoflowers for the detection of explosives. Such SERS sensors exhibited high sensitivity to rhodamine 6G (R6G) at a low concentration of 10(-12) M and an enhancement factor of over 4.12 × 10(6) was achieved. Moreover, the Raman-inactive trinitrotoluene (TNT) initiated the high Raman scattering of non-resonated 4-ATP through the formation of a π-donor-π-acceptor interaction between the π-acceptor, TNT, and the π-donor, the 4-ATP-Ag-ZnO complex, on the flower-like hybrids. Because this π-donor-π-acceptor interaction could effectively induce the "hot spots" for SERS, TNT concentrations as low as 5 × 10(-9) M could be detected. Furthermore, other derivatives of TNT were also explored, and this sensor exhibited better selectivity for TNT than other similarly structured explosives. The low-cost hybrid SERS substrates presented good sensitivity and reproducibility for the analytes employed, demonstrating promising application in forensic science and homeland security.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Materials, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China. xuan.hellen@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhongbo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013499:Surface Properties; D014303:Trinitrotoluene / Q000032:analysis*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014303:Trinitrotoluene; D012834:Silver; D015034:Zinc Oxide