Surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy on self-assembled Au nanoparticles arrays for pesticides residues multiplex detection under complex environment

Abstract

The high reproducibility of trace detection in complex systems is very hard but crucial to analytical technology and science. Here, we present a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform made by large-scale self-assembly of Au nanoparticle (NP) arrays at the cyclohexane/water interface and its use for pesticides residues trace detection. The analyte molecules spontaneously localize into the Au NPs’ nanogaps during the self-assembly process, yielding excellent Raman signal enhancement by surface effects, and possibly both by the concentration of the analytes into the array and by plasmonic hot-spot formation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images demonstrate a good uniformity of interparticle distances (2–3 nm) in the Au NP arrays. SERS experiments on crystal violet (CV) molecules demonstrated that the relative standard deviations (RSD) of the band intensities at 1173, 1376, and 1618 cm −1 were 6.3%, 6.4%, and 6.9%, respectively, indicating high reproducibility of the substrate. Furthermore, we demonstrate that two pesticides dissolved in organic and aqueous phases could be simultaneously detected, suggesting an excellent selectivity and universality of this method for multiplex detection. Our SERS platform opens vast possibilities for repeatability and sensitivity detection of targets in various complex fields.