Silver nanoprism-loaded eggshell membrane: A facile platform for in situ SERS monitoring of catalytic reactions

We reported the fabrication of an in situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) monitoring platform, comprised of a porous eggshell membrane (ESM) bioscaffold loaded with Ag nanoprism via an electrostatic self-assembly approach. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) property of silver nanoprism leads to the blue color of the treated ESMs. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were employed to observe the microstructure and surface property of Ag nanoprisms on the ESMs. The silver nanoprism-loaded eggshell membrane (AgNP@ESM) exhibited strong catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol by sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) and it can be easily recovered and reused for more than six cycles. Significantly, the composites also display excellent SERS efficiency, allowing the in situ SERS monitoring of molecular transformation in heterogeneous catalysis. The results indicate that the AgNP@ESM biocomposite can achieve both SERS and catalytic functionalities simultaneously in a single entity with high performance, which promotes the potential applications of ESM modified with functional materials.