Galvanic engineering of interior hotspots in 3D Au/Ag bimetallic SERS nanocavities for ultrasensitive and rapid recognition of phthalate esters

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2023-08, Vol.470, p.144161, Article 144161
• Main Authors: Hyun Lee, Soo, Baffour Ansah, Iris, Mun, ChaeWon, Yang, Jun-Yeong, Shin, Sung-Young, Na, Jaewon, Park, Jucheol, Nam, Sang-Yeol, Lee, Seunghun, Kim, Jaewoo, Su Joung, Heung, Kim, Dong-Ho, Park, Sung-Gyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Galvanic reaction; Interior hotspots; Multivariate classification; Phthalates; Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2023.144161

[Display omitted] •Interior hotspots of Au/AgNCs were facilely prepared via a one-pot GR process.•Interstitials were activated for the E-field confinement and molecular pathways.•The Au/AgNC platform reliably showed sub-ppm sensitivity for four different PAEs.•Machine learning analyses based on PCA–LDA successfully classified PAE combinations. The ecological and health risks of plasticizer accumulation have reached the global public agenda. For early screening of phthalate esters (PAEs), in the present study, we developed ultrasensitive and reliable bimetallic surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platforms with Ag nanocavities galvanically replaced by Au (Au/AgNCs) at room temperature. A galvanic reaction (GR) coupled with the Kirkendall effect led to a large population of nanoscale hollow regions within 60 s. The interstitials at the bimetallic shells were activated as both interior hotspots for field confinement and diffusion pathways for small target molecules. The GR based on the intrinsic material properties resulted in an Au/AgNC platform with reliable sensing operation, including a relative standard deviation of