Plasmon AgNPs/MoS2/ZnO nanorods array ternary heterojunctions enabling high-efficiency solar-light energy utilization for photocatalysis and recyclable SERS detection

Jingying Yang; Sixuan Chen; Mingfei Pan; Yumei Ding; Shuo Wang

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2024.342668

Plasmon AgNPs/MoS₂/ZnO nanorods array ternary heterojunctions enabling high-efficiency solar-light energy utilization for photocatalysis and recyclable SERS detection

Anal Chim Acta. 2024 Jun 22:1309:342668. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2024.342668. Epub 2024 May 2.

Authors

Jingying Yang¹, Sixuan Chen¹, Mingfei Pan², Yumei Ding³, Shuo Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China; Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Health of Tianjin, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, 300457, Tianjin, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China; Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Health of Tianjin, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, 300457, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: pmf2006@sina.com.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, 300457, China; Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Health of Tianjin, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, 300457, Tianjin, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Food Science and Health, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China. Electronic address: s.wang@tust.edu.cn.

PMID: 38772655
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2024.342668

Abstract

Background: Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has gained widespread use in molecule-level detection benefiting from its high sensitivity, nondestructive data acquisition, and capacity for providing molecular fingerprint information. However, the strong adhesion of target molecules to the substrate (known as the "memory effect") inherently hinders the reusability of SERS substrates. Research has shown that self-cleaning SERS substrates based on versatile semiconductor materials with SERS enhancement capabilities and solar photocatalytic properties offer an effective platform for the sensitive detection and degradation of harmful molecules.

Results: In this research, a resuable SERS-active substrate was facilely fabricated by anchoring silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to the edges of MoS₂ nanosheet decorated on ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs). This innovative design exhibited a remarkable SERS enhancement factor (EF) of 4.6 × 10⁷ and demonstrated significant solar photocatalytic efficiency. Such superior characteristics of ternary plasma heterojunction were ascribable to the synergistic effect of the "Schottky barrier" and "hot spots" between MoS₂ and AgNPs, the inherent chemical enhancement proficiency of the MoS₂/ZnO NRAs heterojunction, as well as the ultrafast electron transfer within the ternary heterojunction.

Significance: The developed ternary heterojunction substrate enabled highly sensitive SERS detection of trace amounts of organic molecules. Moreover, this SERS substrate exhibited self-cleaning and recyclability via solar-light-driven photocatalysis. This bifunctional recyclable SERS substrate proved capable of meeting various requirements for routine monitoring of environmental organic pollutants and provided a robust avenue for advancing energy utilization materials that serve as high-performance SERS sensors and catalysts.

Keywords: MoS(2)/ZnO heterojunction; Plasma AgNPs; Recyclable SERS; Self-cleaning; Visible-light photocatalysis.