Depositing a flexible substrate of triangular silver nanoplates onto cotton fabrics for sensitive SERS detection

A flexible and effective substrate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SEAS) detection has been developed by dip coating of triangular silver nanoplates (TSNPs) onto cotton fabrics. The morphology, chemical composition and crystalline structure of the coated cotton fabrics were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. These results confirmed the presence and well dispersion of the TSNPs on the surface of cotton fabrics. p-aminothiophenol (PATP) has been used as the probe molecule to evaluate the performance of the coated cotton fabrics as a flexible SERS substrate, and the PATP in diluted solutions can be detected with the concentration as low as 10(-8) M. The results indicate that the TSNPs-coated fabrics exhibit sensitive SERS signals with excellent reproducibility and stability. The flexible SERS substrate has been demonstrated to rapidly detect carbaryl pesticides on fruits.