A two-fold SPR-SERS sensor utilizing gold nanoparticles and graphene thin membrane as a spacer in a 3D composite structure

Nazia Nasr; Muhammad Shafi; Tingkai Zhao; Rawaid Ali; Ishaq Ahmad; Muhammad Khan; Ahmed Deifalla; Adham E Ragab; Mohd Zahid Ansari

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2023.123331

A two-fold SPR-SERS sensor utilizing gold nanoparticles and graphene thin membrane as a spacer in a 3D composite structure

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2024 Jan 5:304:123331. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123331. Epub 2023 Sep 1.

Authors

Nazia Nasr¹, Muhammad Shafi², Tingkai Zhao³, Rawaid Ali⁴, Ishaq Ahmad⁵, Muhammad Khan⁶, Ahmed Deifalla⁷, Adham E Ragab⁸, Mohd Zahid Ansari⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China; NPU-NCP Joint International Research Center on Advanced Nanomaterials and Defects Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
² Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
³ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China; NPU-NCP Joint International Research Center on Advanced Nanomaterials and Defects Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. Electronic address: ztk@nwpu.edu.cn.
⁴ Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, 650093 Kunming, China.
⁵ NPU-NCP Joint International Research Center on Advanced Nanomaterials and Defects Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
⁶ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China; NPU-NCP Joint International Research Center on Advanced Nanomaterials and Defects Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. Electronic address: mkhan@nwpu.edu.cn.
⁷ Structural Engineering and Construction Management Department, Future University in Egypt, 11835, Egypt.
⁸ Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: zahid.smr@yu.ac.kr.

PMID: 37688887
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123331

Abstract

Localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) biosensing using optical fibers has gained popularity due to its label-free approach and high sensitivity to changes in the nanoparticle surface's local index of refraction. However, improving sensitivity remains a challenge. In this study, a two-step approach was employed to fabricate a composite structure using gold nanoparticles and monolayer graphene (Gr-AuNPs). The combination of AuNPs and graphene membrane demonstrated high potential for Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) fiber sensors. The Gr-AuNPs sensor successfully detected R6G molecules with a low detection limit of 10^-12 M, indicating promising SERS activity. Numerical simulations confirmed that the graphene generated densely hot spots in the nanogap region between plasmonic layers. It's interesting that the proposed SPR-SERS Sensor can detect both glucose and thiram. This demonstrates the sensors practicality and can help with a basic environmental need to find leftover pesticides in the soil. The combination of SPR-SERS dual-mode detection provides more options for detecting and verifying data, increasing the precision and repeatability of experiments.

Keywords: Au/Gr plasmonic layers; Detection of glucose; Dual-mode sensor; Surface plasmon resonance; Surface-enhanced Raman scattering.