Nanocellulose is an abundant green resource that, owing to the larger surface area, length, and diameter of the fibers, can be used as a framework for loading Ag nanoparticles and serve as substrate for surface enhancement Raman scattering (SERS). These properties would cause the hydroxyl groups on the surface to adsorb the Ag ions and reduce them to Ag seed to form a load fulcrum. This paper presents a convenient and environmentally friendly method for the fabrication of silver-nanocellulose composites (NCF-Ag). A commonly used pesticide, carbendazim (CBZ), was used as a SERS probe to evaluate the properties of NCF-Ag. The results showed that NCF-Ag possesses good homogeneity, reproducibility, and stability. Additionally, CBZ was found to have a low limit of detection (LOD), i.e., 1.0 × 10-8 M, which indicates the possibility for trace analysis. Furthermore, it presents good linearity with R² = 0.98 at 1007 and 1270 cm-1 in the range from 10-4~10-7 M CBZ.
Keywords: Ag nanoparticle; carbendazim; nanocellulose; surface enhancement Raman scattering (SERS).