Metal oxides have advantages over the traditional noble metals to be used as substrate materials for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) with low cost, versatility, and biocompatibility, but their enhancement factors are generally quite low with a poor limit of detection. Here, ultrathin molybdenum dioxide (MoO2 ) nanosheets synthesized by chemical vapor deposition demonstrated in large area are used as SERS substrates with superior signal uniformity in the whole area with a limit of detectable concentration down to 4 × 10-8 m and enhancement factor up to 2.1 × 105 , exceeding that of 2D materials and comparable to that of noble metal films. More practically important, the planar MoO2 substrate is more robust than noble metals and shows excellent reusability and uniformity, which is usually prohibited for nanostructured or nanoparticle-based metal oxide substrates. The enhancement is mainly attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect as evidenced by the first principle calculations and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy characterization, which can be further increased by decreasing the thickness of the MoO2 nanosheets. The overall superior performance makes the MoO2 nanosheets an ideal substrate for practical SERS applications.
Keywords: molybdenum dioxide; nanosheets; sensitive; surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
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