Turing Structured Au/Graphene Oxide-Polyethylene Glycol Thin Film for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection of Trace Dye

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been hailed as one of the most powerful approaches in detecting compounds with trace amount. However, difficulties with the SERS substrate, including its instability, technological dependence, and the lack of hotspots, often obstruct its practical use. To address these issues, herein, unique Turing structured gold-coated graphene oxide-polyethylene glycol (GO-PEG) SERS substrate is designed, which presents a highly stable and pre/posttreatment-free substrate with enhanced hotspots to detect a hazardous azo dye (methyl orange, MO) in trace amount (10(-5) m). An exciting enhancement factor (EF) of 2.4 x 10(7) is obtained from GO-PEG substrate compared with the conventional planar SERS substrate, owing to the increased hotspots and fluorescence quenching of MO molecules. Turing patterns remain structurally intact, even after 10 days of preparation, showing the dependability of the SERS substrate. Furthermore, the enhanced SERS signals are obtained at a high laser power of 12 mW, which also shows the stability of prepared substrate at harsh operating conditions. This study has the potential to radically change the way. SERS substrates are utilized in trace detection and accelerate the development of new pattern-based SERS platforms for trace-level material detection.

Automated summary

This study presents a unique SERS substrate that enhances the detection of trace materials. By increasing hotspots and quenching fluorescence, the substrate demonstrates high stability and improved detection capabilities.