Preparation of high-capacity substrates from polycrystalline silver chloride for the selective detection of tyrosine by surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) measurements

In this work, stacked but isolated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on silver chloride were prepared in order to create sensitive substrates that could be used to determine analytes in aqueous solution by performing surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) measurements. These substrates have a high loading capacity, which improves sensitivity, thus allowing the detection of biospecies such as weak infrared absorbers (including amino acids) in aqueous solution. AgNPs were obtained by converting the surface layers of the silver chloride crystals into stacked but isolated AgNPs using reducing agents. To optimize the conditions used to prepare the SEIRA substrates, the roles of four common reducing agents-hydrazine, sodium borohydride, glucose, and formaldehyde-were explored by probing the finished substrates with para-nitrobenzoic acid (PNBA). Factors that influence the morphologies of the AgNPs were examined systemically. These factors include the pH of the reducing solution, the reaction time, and the concentration of the reducing agent. Results indicate that the concentration of the reducing agent and the pH of the solution strongly influence the AgNP morphology and hence the SEIRA signals. Under optimized conditions, the resulting substrates showed intense SEIRA spectra from PNBA, with enhancement factors of around two orders of magnitude compared to conventional transmission methods. The new substrates offer a high loading capacity and good heat tolerance, allowing the direct infrared detection of tyrosine in aqueous solution.