Facile fabrication of Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles as a SERS substrate and their environmental applications

Tingting Zhang; Xiaoli Xin; Anqi Li; Tao Xu; Luo Li; Chang Liu; Weihua Li; Jiansheng Li; Yi Li; Rui Lu

doi:10.1039/D2AN01073A

Facile fabrication of Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles as a SERS substrate and their environmental applications†

Tingting Zhang,‡^a Xiaoli Xin,‡^a Anqi Li,^a Tao Xu,^a Luo Li,^a Chang Liu,^b Weihua Li,^c Jiansheng Li,

^a Yi Li*^ad and Rui Lu

*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, People's Republic of China
E-mail: rlu@njust.edu.cn

^b Information Materials and Intelligent Sensing Laboratory of Anhui Province, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, People's Republic of China

^c School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, People's Republic of China

^d State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, People's Republic of China
E-mail: liyi@hainanu.edu.cn

Abstract

After preparing carbon-coated silver (Ag@C) nanoparticles by a one-step hydrothermal synthesis method, the surface of the nanoparticles was modified with chlorodimethyloctylsilane (C8) to generate C8 functionalized Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles. The Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles were then employed as a substrate for surface enhancement Raman scattering (SERS). The high sensitivity, good uniformity, and long stability Raman signals for both probe dyes (rhodamine 6G and crystal violet) and a real sample (malachite green) in water demonstrated good performance of the as-synthesised Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles. SEM images and TEM images indicate the successful preparation of Ag@C nanoparticles. The results of energy disperse spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements all demonstrate that C8 is successfully functionalized on the surface of Ag@C nanoparticles. The combination of an agglomeration effect and the core–shell structure improves the sensitivity and stability of the substrate. The Raman performance of both Ag@C and Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles was evaluated using representative probe molecules such as rhodamine 6G, crystal violet and malachite green. The sensitivity and enhancement factor of Ag@C@C8 were evaluated using folic acid, a non-dye molecule. Additionally, malachite green in several actual water samples was also measured to evaluate the Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles. Then, using crystal violet as a probe molecule, the long-term stability of the Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles was investigated. The results indicate that for four weeks, the intensity deviations of different characteristic peaks were less than 17.5%, and there was no further downward trend. Our strategy partially overcomes the problem of easy oxidation of Ag nanoparticles by coating them with a thin carbon layer, and subsequent functionalization with C8 can increase the SERS sensitivity for certain pollutants due to a condensation effect.

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Facile fabrication of Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles as a SERS substrate and their environmental applications†

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Facile fabrication of Ag@C@C8 nanoparticles as a SERS substrate and their environmental applications

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