Ultrasensitive Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Detection Based on Amorphous Molybdenum Oxide Quantum Dots

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based on plasmonic semi-conductive material has been proved to be an efficient tool to detect trace of substances, while the relatively weak plasmon resonance compared with noble metal materials restricts its practical application. Herein, for the first time a facile method to fabricate amorphous HxMoO3 quantum dots with tunable plasmon resonance is developed by a controlled oxidization route. The as-prepared amorphous HxMoO3 quantum dots show tunable plasmon resonance in the region of visible and near-infrared light. Moreover, the tunability induced by SC CO2 is analyzed by a molecule kinetic theory combined with a molecular thermodynamic model. More importantly, the ultrahigh enhancement factor of amorphous HxMoO3 quantum dots detecting on methyl blue can be up to 9.5 x 10(5) with expending the limit of detection to 10(-9) m. Such a remarkable porperty can also be found in this HxMoO3-based sensor with Rh6G and RhB as probe molecules, suggesting that the amorphous HxMoO3 quantum dot is an efficient candidate for SERS on molecule detection in high precision.