SERS detection of uranyl based on MOF-coated gold nanooctahedron hybrid.

The ability to sensitively and quantitatively detect uranyl in complex samples plays a vital role in environmental monitoring. In this work, an MOF-coated gold (Au) nanohybrid was synthesized for uranyl detection by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology. The MOF shell not only prevents the Au nanoparticles from rapid aggregation, but also effectively enhances the Raman signal of uranyl. A detection limit of as low as 0.5 μM could be achieved in solution, which could be comparable to the previously reported ones from SERS-based approaches. Moreover, the prepared SERS-active substrate was also applied to uranyl detection in real samples.