Facile coupling of plasmonic Au-NPs on ZnS NFs as a robust SERS substrate for toluidine blue detection and degradation.

BACKGROUND

The robustness and sensitivity of the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique heavily relies on the development of SERS active materials. A hybrid of semiconductor and plasmonic metals is highly effective as a SERS substrate, which enables the trace level detection of various organic pollutants.

RESULTS

This approach demonstrates the photodeposition of plasmonic gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) on the surface of semiconductor-zinc sulfide nanoflowers (ZnS NFs), grown via the hydrothermal route. The synergistic contribution of the charge-transfer phenomenon and localized surface plasmon resonance of the Au-NPs/ZnS NFs makes it an ideal SERS substrate for the detection of organic pollutants, toluidine blue (TB). The proposed material has a high SERS enhancement factor (10), low limit of detection (10 M), good reproducibility, selectivity and strong anti-interference ability. Furthermore, the practicability of the Au-NPs/ZnS NFs is explored in real-time water samples, which are obtained with the satisfactory recovery rates. Additionally, the UVC light illumination on the Au-NPs/ZnS NFs has efficiently degraded TB within a time period of 150 min.

SIGNIFICANCE AND NOVELTY

These finding demonstrate the significance of the proposed Au-NPs/ZnS NFs for SERS based detection and degradation of organic pollutants in real-time samples, highlighting their potential in monitoring and treating water pollutants in wastewater.