Biomimetic SERS substrate with silicon-mediated internal standard: Improved sensing of environmental pollutants and nutrients

Zidong Hao; Shijiao Fu; Huan Liu; Hengwei Zhao; Chenjie Gu; Tao Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2023.123805

Biomimetic SERS substrate with silicon-mediated internal standard: Improved sensing of environmental pollutants and nutrients

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2024 Mar 15:309:123805. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123805. Epub 2023 Dec 24.

Authors

Zidong Hao¹, Shijiao Fu¹, Huan Liu¹, Hengwei Zhao¹, Chenjie Gu², Tao Jiang³

Affiliations

¹ School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, PR China.
² School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, PR China. Electronic address: guchenjie@nbu.edu.cn.
³ School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, PR China. Electronic address: jiangtao@nbu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38154300
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123805

Abstract

Biomimetic materials with fascinating natural micro-nano surface structures offer a good choice for the simple fabrication of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. This study presented a novel sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC)-Ag biomimetic substrate which was fabricated through the reverse replication of micro-nano structures from cantaloupe peel. Particularly, silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) were doped into this flexible biomimetic substrate in its fabrication process. Abundant electromagnetic "hotspots" could be effectively excited in this Ag densely covered matrix which maintained numerous protrusions as well as vertical and horizontal grooves. Specifically, the doped Si NPs exhibited a robust intrinsic Raman peak, which could be employed as an internal standard to calibrate the target signal. In this regard, the biomimetic substrate with the optimal electromagnetic enhancement and the quantitative calibration capabilities exhibited a high enhancement factor and a remedied linear relationship in the detection. After a perfect uniformity of signal was proved by the corrected SERS mapping, the biomimetic SERS substrate was finally utilized in the practical analysis of methylene blue (MB) and β-carotene with ultra-low limit of detection, highlighting its importance in practical detection scenarios.

Keywords: Biomimetic SERS substrate; Internal standard; Methylene blue (MB); Silicon nanoparticles; β-carotene.