Ag Nanoparticles Decorated CuO@RF Core-Shell Nanowires for High-Performance Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Application

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-12, Vol.27 (23), p.8460
• Main Authors: Chang, Tung-Hao, Di, Hsin-Wei, Chang, Yu-Cheng, Chou, Chia-Man
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-Fluorouracil; Amoxicillin; Antibiotics; Contact angle; Copper oxide; Copper oxides; Crystal structure; CuO nanowires; CuO@RF@Ag core-shell nanowires; Cuprite; Fabrication; Formaldehyde; Metal foils; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nanowires; Nanowires - chemistry; Oxidation; Oxidation process; Penicillin; Raman spectra; Raman spectroscopy; Reproducibility of Results; Resorcinol; resorcinol–formaldehyde; Rhodamine 6G; Sensitivity; Silver; Spectrum analysis; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods; thermal oxidation process
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27238460

Vertical-aligned CuO nanowires have been directly fabricated on Cu foil through a facile thermal oxidation process by a hotplate at 550 °C for 6 h under ambient conditions. The intermediate layer of resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles can be sequentially deposited on Cu nanowires to form CuO@RF@Ag core-shell nanowires by a two-step wet chemical approach. The appropriate resorcinol weight and silver nitrate concentration can be favorable to grow the CuO@RF@Ag nanowires with higher surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement for detecting rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules. Compared with CuO@Ag nanowires grown by ion sputtering, CuO@RF@Ag nanowires exhibited a higher SERS enhancement factor of 5.33 × 10 and a lower detection limit (10 M) for detecting R6G molecules. This result is ascribed to the CuO@RF@Ag nanowires with higher-density hot spots and surface-active sites for enhanced high SERS enhancement, good reproducibility, and uniformity. Furthermore, the CuO@RF@Ag nanowires can also reveal a high-sensitivity SERS-active substrate for detecting amoxicillin (10 M) and 5-fluorouracil (10 M). CuO@RF@Ag nanowires exhibit a simple fabrication process, high SERS sensitivity, high reproducibility, high uniformity, and low detection limit, which are helpful for the practical application of SERS in different fields.