access icon free Enhanced efficient and sensitive SERS sensing via controlled Ag-nanoparticle-decorated 3D flower-like ZnO hierarchical microstructure

Various sizes and morphologies of noble metal/zinc oxide hybrid materials have promising applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Generally, organic agents used during the synthesis of metal nanoparticles will inexorably induce organic pollution on the surface of SERS substrate, resulting in a negative effect on detection sensitivity. Herein, a stable and clean 3D flower-like ZnO/Ag hierarchical microstructure SERS substrate was designed and fabricated via a simple photocatalytic method. This synthetic strategy does not involve usage of any organic agents, which ensures the cleanness and free of impurities interferences. As anticipated, the as-fabricated 3D flower-like ZnO/Ag SERS substrates with high surface-to-volume ratio increased numerous hot spots, and exhibited excellent detection sensitivity to Rhodamine 6G. A linear relationship between the Raman intensity and the concentration of Rhodamine 6G ranging from 10−11 to 10−4 M was realised. This work demonstrated a performance-enhanced SERS sensor based on microflower-like ZnO@Ag hybrids, which provides a potential method to develop highly sensitive and stable SERS sensor for organic molecules detection.

Inspec keywords: particle reinforced composites; nanocomposites; II-VI semiconductors; nanosensors; substrates; semiconductor growth; optical sensors; crystal microstructure; nanofabrication; surface enhanced Raman scattering; silver; photocatalysis; zinc compounds; nanoparticles; wide band gap semiconductors

Other keywords: photocatalytic method; detection sensitivity; Rhodamine 6G; Raman intensity; surface-enhanced Raman scattering; sensitive SERS sensing; organic pollution; morphology; controlled Ag-nanoparticle-decorated 3D flower-like ZnO hierarchical microstructure; ZnO-Ag; stable SERS sensor

Subjects: Infrared and Raman spectra in composite materials; Microstructure; Photocatalysis; Composite materials (engineering materials science); Nanometre-scale semiconductor fabrication technology; Sensing and detecting devices; II-VI and III-V semiconductors; Other methods of nanofabrication; Low-dimensional structures: growth, structure and nonelectronic properties; Microsensors and nanosensors; Optical properties of composite materials (thin films, low-dimensional and nanoscale structures)

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http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/mnl.2020.0416
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