Combined Electrochemical Deposition and Photo-Reduction to Fabricate SERS-Active Silver Substrates: Characterization and Application for Malachite Green Detection in Aquaculture Water

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2024-07, Vol.14 (14), p.1226
• Main Authors: Li, Yu-Xuan, Chen, Yi-Ting, Chang, Cheng-Tse, Ting, Chao Yi Anso, Arta, Yaumalika, Wu, Mei-Yao, Wu, Tsunghsueh, Lin, Yu-Shen, Lin, Yang-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquaculture; aquaculture water monitoring; Chromatography; Deposition; Electrochemical analysis; electrochemical deposition; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Electrolytes; Fabrication; Fluorine; Fungicides; Glass substrates; Gold; Light emitting diodes; Light sources; Malachite green; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; photo-reduction; Raman spectroscopy; Reducing agents; Silicon wafers; Silver; silver nanoparticles; Sodium citrate; Substrates; surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS); Tin oxide; Tin oxides; Water; Water analysis; Water sampling
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano14141226

This research introduces a novel approach using silver (Ag) nanostructures generated through electrochemical deposition and photo-reduction of Ag on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates (denoted as X-Ag-Ag FTO, where 'X' and 'y' represent the type of light source and number of deposited cycles, respectively) for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). This study used malachite green (MG) as a Raman probe to evaluate the enhancement factors (EFs) in SERS-active substrates under varied fabrication conditions. For the substrates produced via electrochemical deposition, we determined a Raman EF of 6.15 × 10 for the Ag FTO substrate. In photo-reduction, the impact of reductant concentration, light source, and light exposure duration were examined on X-Ag nanoparticle formation to achieve superior Raman EFs. Under optimal conditions (9.0 mM sodium citrate, 460 nm blue-LED at 10 W for 90 min), the combination of blue-LED-reduced Ag (B-Ag) and an Ag FTO substrate (denoted as B-Ag-Ag FTO) exhibited the best Raman EF of 2.79 × 10 . This substrate enabled MG detection within a linear range of 0.1 to 1.0 µM (R = 0.98) and a detection limit of 0.02 µM. Additionally, the spiked recoveries in aquaculture water samples were between 90.0% and 110.0%, with relative standard deviations between 3.9% and 6.3%, indicating the substrate's potential for fungicide detection in aquaculture.