In recent years, Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) has been considered the best tool for the detection and identification of the least concentration of analytes and micro-organisms, such as bacteria. In this article, we have successfully obtained the SERS signal of Escherichia coli and Methylene Blue (MB) using Zinc Tin Oxide (ZTO) nanostructures as the SERS substrate. The ZTO SERS substrates were grown by a simple thermal evaporation method and annealed at various temperatures ranging from 600 to 800 °C before using them for bacteria identification. After the structural verification and morphological analysis using XRD and SEM, ZTO samples were used as SERS substrates for the detection of E. coli and MB by placing a drop of each solution on the ZTO. SERS data strongly identified the presence of MB and E. coli Raman peaks. Furthermore, it was found that intensity of signals (for both E. coli and MB) was found to be improved from SERS substrates that are pre-annealed at higher temperature. The intensity of Raman peaks for E. coli and MB was increased by 60 000 and 120 000 counts as the annealing temperature increased to 600 and 800 °C, respectively. An enhancement factor of 1.44 × 10⁴ was observed for MB. Results obtained in this study indicate that zinc oxide based nanostructured SERS chips are potential candidates for rapid identification of many pathogens.

中文翻译：

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研究 ZTO 作为一种高效且廉价的 SERS 底物用于细菌鉴定的潜力

近年来，表面增强拉曼光谱 (SERS) 被认为是检测和鉴定最低浓度分析物和微生物（如细菌）的最佳工具。在本文中，我们使用氧化锌锡 (ZTO) 纳米结构作为 SERS 底物，成功获得了大肠杆菌和亚甲蓝 (MB)的 SERS 信号。ZTO SERS 基板通过简单的热蒸发方法生长，并在用于细菌鉴定之前在 600 至 800°C 的各种温度下退火。在使用 XRD 和 SEM 进行结构验证和形态分析后，ZTO 样品被用作 SERS 基底用于检测E。大肠杆菌和 MB 通过在 ZTO 上放置一滴每种溶液。SERS 数据强烈地确定了 MB 和E的存在。大肠杆菌拉曼峰。此外，我们发现的信号强度（对于两种ê。大肠杆菌发现和MB）从在较高温度下被预退火SERS基底的提高。E的拉曼峰强度。随着退火温度分别增加到 600 和 800 °C，大肠杆菌和 MB 的计数分别增加了 60 000 和 120 000。1.44 × 10 ⁴的增强因子观察到 MB。本研究中获得的结果表明，基于氧化锌的纳米结构 SERS 芯片是快速识别许多病原体的潜在候选者。