Transparent conductive film of silver nanowires employed for SERS detection of mercury ions

Silver nanowires (Ag NWs)/glass transparent conductive film was prepared by one-step spin coating method. LCysteine (L-Cys) functionalized Ag NWs were employed for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection, which was used to evaluate the photoelectric performance by detecting heavy metal Hg2+ ions. The LCys functionalized Ag NWs/glass transparent conductive film exhibits selective, rapid and sensitive detection to Hg2+. The limit of Hg2+ detection reaches 10-9 M, which is ten times lower than the maximum Hg2+ concentration in drinking water set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Furthermore, this dual-function of transparent conductive silver sensor has high accuracy, and reliability, which provides new insights into the design of rapid and sensitive SERS detection of mercury ions, and indicates a great potential for efficient heavy metal detection.

Automated summary

A silver nanowires/glass transparent conductive film was prepared using a one-step spin coating method. LCysteine (L-Cys) functionalized silver nanowires were used for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection of heavy metal Hg2+ ions to evaluate the photoelectric performance. The LCys functionalized silver nanowires/glass transparent conductive film showed selective, rapid and sensitive detection of Hg2+. The limit of Hg2+ detection was 10-9 M, which is ten times lower than the maximum Hg2+ concentration in drinking water set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, this dual-function transparent conductive silver sensor demonstrated high accuracy and reliability, providing new insights for the design of rapid and sensitive SERS detection of mercury ions and showing great potential for efficient heavy metal detection.