Ag-nanoparticle-decorated porous ZnO-nanosheets grafted on a carbon fiber cloth as effective SERS substrates.
We report on the large-scale synthesis of Ag-nanoparticle (Ag-NP) decorated ZnO-mesoporous-nanosheets (NSs) grafted on a flexible carbon fiber cloth (CFC), as sensitive and reproducible surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates with excellent flexibility. The composite SERS-substrates are achieved by a combination of atomic layer deposition of ZnO-seeds on each fiber of the CFC (denoted as ZnO-seeds@CFC), chemical bath deposition and subsequent pyrolysis for the creation of ZnO-mesoporous-NSs grafted on ZnO-seeds@CFC, and ion-sputtering of Ag-NPs on the ZnO-mesoporous-NSs. As abundant SERS "hot spots" are generated from the electromagnetic coupling of the densely distributed Ag-NPs, and the semiconducting ZnO-mesoporous-NSs also have chemical supporting enhancement and distinct molecule adsorbing abilities, the composite SERS-substrates demonstrate high SERS-sensitivity with good signal reproducibility. As a trial for potential applications, the composite SERS-substrates were used to identify pesticides and highly toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and low concentrations down to 10(-7) M for methyl parathion and 5 × 10(-6) M for PCB-77 were reached, respectively, showing promising potential for the SERS-based rapid detection of toxic organic pollutants in the environment.
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, and Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, China. gwmeng@issp.ac.cn.
Zhiwei
Z
Wang
Guowen
G
Meng
Zhulin
Z
Huang
Zhongbo
Z
Li
Qitao
Q
Zhou
D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D000077482:Carbon Fiber; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D058726:Nanoconjugates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
D000077482:Carbon Fiber; D058726:Nanoconjugates; D012834:Silver; D002244:Carbon; D015034:Zinc Oxide