Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy in nanofibers mats of SiO2-TiO2-Ag

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful tool with high potential for detection of dilute analytes. Nanofibers functionalized by metal nanostructures and particles are exploited as effective flexible substrates for SERS analysis. SERS-active substrates of silice-titania-silver (SiO2-TiO2-Ag) nanofibers were prepared using a simple approach involving electrospinning. We report a simple method for quantitative SERS analysis using SiO2-TiO2-Ag nanofibers as the SERS substrate. Precursors SiO2 and TiO2 were synthetized through the sol-gel method and then incorporated into a polymeric PVP matrix; later they were processed by coaxial electrospinning to obtain fibers with an average diameter of 250 nm. The SiO2-TiO2-Ag structure was demonstrated by Raman, XRD, IR, SEM and EDX. Through infrared spectroscopy it was possible to evaluate the thermal evolution of the sol-gel process. The Titania phase transformation was observed around 800 degrees C and the hydroxyl group loss was detected between 500 and 800 degrees C. The presence of two Titania phases, anatase and rutile were analized with DRX. Using Pyridine (1 nM) as probe molecule the SERS effect of the scaffold was evaluated and it was determined that the vibration modes 8a, 8b, and 15 were the most amplified signals with a 3 orders of magnitude factor. With this it was concluded that the Silica-Titania-Silver Scaffold is a feasible as a SERS enhancer. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.