Aramid nanofiber membrane decorated with monodispersed silver nanoparticles as robust and flexible SERS chips for trace detection of multiple toxic substances

Sihang Zhang, Kejun Jin, Jiangtao Xu, Lei Ding, Yingying Huang, Guilian Liu, Xing Liu, Shouxiang Jiang (Corresponding Author)

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aramid nanofibers (ANFs) as an innovative nanoscale building block exhibit great potential for novel high-performance multifunctional membranes attributed to their extraordinary performance. However, the application of aramid nanofibers in the field of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing has been rarely reported. In this work, aramid nanofibers derived from commercial Kevlar fibers were synthesized by a facile dimethyl sulfoxide/potassium hydroxide (DMSO/KOH) solution treatment. The monodispersed silver nanoparticle-decorated aramid nanofiber (m-Ag@ANF) membranes were constructed by an efficient vacuum filtration technique. Taking advantages of unique intrinsic properties of ANF, the m-Ag@ANF substrates exhibit good flexibility, excellent mechanical properties and prominent thermal stability. Besides, due to the abundance of positively charged amino-group on the ANF substrates, the negatively charged m-AgNPs were uniformly and firmly deposited on the surface of ANF substrate through electrostatic interactions. As a result, the optimal flexible m-Ag-9@ANF SERS substrate exhibits high sensitivity of 10-9 M for methylene blue (MB) and excellent signal reproducibility (RSD = 6.37 %), as well as outstanding signal stability (up to 15 days). Besides, the 2D Raman mapping and FDTD simulations further reveal prominent signal homogeneity and strong electric field distribution for flexible m-Ag-9@ANF SERS substrate. Finally, it is demonstrated that the flexible m-Ag-9@ANF SERS substrate can also be used for detection of toxic molecules on irregular surfaces by a feasible paste-and-read process. The m-Ag@ANF paper exhibits potential applications as a flexible, low-cost, robust and stable SERS sensing platform for trace detection of toxic materials.

Original languageEnglish
Article number123720
JournalSpectrochimica Acta - Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy
Volume308
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • Aramid nanofibers
  • Flexible SERS substrate
  • Membrane
  • Monodispersed Ag nanoparticles
  • Toxic materials

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Instrumentation
  • Spectroscopy

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