Polydopamine-assisted immobilization of Ag@AuNPs on cotton fabrics for sensitive and responsive SERS detection

Depositing anisotropic noble metal nanoparticles with high uniformity and yield on flexible substrates is the determining factor for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection. In this work, flexible, durable and sensitive SERS substrates were fabricated by in situ reduction of Ag nanoparticles on polydopamine templated cotton fabrics (CF) as catalytic hotspots to enhance the following deposition of Au nanoparticles. The coated CF were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to understand the surface morphology, chemical composition and crystalline structure, respectively. The SEM images indicate that the nanoparticles are dispersed evenly on the CF. 4-Mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) has been used as the probe molecule to evaluate the sensitive and reproducible SERS properties of the as-fabricated SERS substrate. The as-prepared SERS substrates were demonstrated to detect carbaryl pesticides on a cucumber, and carbaryl with the concentration of as low as 10−6 M (0.20 ppm) could be detected to ensure food safety.