Trace analysis and chemical identification on cellulose nanofibers-textured SERS substrates using the "coffee ring" effect

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has the theoretical possibility of detecting chemicals at the single molecular level. This potential is frequently limited, however, by the critical requirements of the surface morphology and mechanical stability of SERS substrates. In this paper, we report a new method for fabricating a SERS substrate with a significantly improved mechanical stability and analytical sensitivity, using cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). We constructed a uniformly CNFs-textured substrate on a glass surface by means of suppressing the "coffee ring" effect of the CNF sessile drop and then introduced an AuNP suspension onto the CNFs-textured subst..