Although phosphate (Pi) is a necessary nutrient for the growth of aquatic organisms, the presence of excess Pi leads to water eutrophication; thus, it is necessary to accurately determine the content of Pi in water. A method for the determination of trace Pi in aquaculture water was developed based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) combined with rhodamine 6G (R6G)-modified silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as the active substrate. The adsorption of R6G on the AgNP surfaces led to a strong SERS signal. However, in the presence of Pi and ammonium molybdate, phosphomolybdic acid formed, which further associated with R6G to form a stable R6G-PMo12O403- association complex, thereby hindering the adsorption of R6G on the AgNPs, and reducing the SERS intensity; this sequence formed the basis of Pi detection. The decrease in the SERS intensity was linear with respect to the Pi concentration (0.2-20 μM), and the limit of detection was 29.3 nM. Upon the application of this method to the determination of Pi in aquaculture water, a recovery of 94.4-107.2% was obtained (RSD 1.77-6.18%). This study provides an accurate, rapid, and sensitive method for the trace determination of Pi in aquaculture water, which is suitable for on-site detection.
Keywords: aquaculture water; association reaction; phosphate; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy; trace detection.