Determination of perchlorate in tea using SERS with a superhydrophobically treated cysteine modified silver film/polydimethylsiloxane substrate

Anal Methods. 2021 Apr 7;13(13):1625-1634. doi: 10.1039/d1ay00215e. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Abstract

Perchlorate is a new type of persistent pollutant, which interferes with the synthesis and secretion of thyroxine and affects human health. The EU's limit for perchlorate in tea is 750 μg kg-1. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique has the characteristics of a simple pretreatment method, rapid detection, high sensitivity, high specificity and great stability in the detection of perchlorate. This study proposed a novel superhydrophobic SERS substrate, which can be used to detect perchlorate in tea. Firstly, a chemical deposition method was used to deposit a silver film on the surface of a thin layer of polydimethylsiloxane. After drying, the substrate was immersed in 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane aqueous solution for 15 hours to make the surface of the substrate superhydrophobic. Then cysteine molecules were deposited on the surface of the silver film/polydimethylsiloxane by incubation. The superhydrophobic surface has a unique enrichment effect on the highly diluted solution, and perchlorate has a strong affinity for the amino group of cysteine. We collected the Raman spectra of 9 gradient concentrations (1-100 μmol L-1) of perchlorate-spiked tea samples on the hydrophobic substrate, and a linear model of the relationship between the SERS spectral intensity and the concentrations of perchlorate in tea was established. This method reached a good limit of detection of 0.0067 μmol L-1 (0.82 μg kg-1) in tea, which showed that the developed sensor has high sensitivity and could be used as a fast and simple technique for quantitative detection of perchlorate based on SERS technology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cysteine*
  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • Humans
  • Perchlorates
  • Silver*
  • Tea

Substances

  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • Perchlorates
  • Tea
  • Silver
  • Cysteine