Flexible, foldable and transparent SERS film with high sensitivity and signal homogeneity via silver ion exchange and in-situ reduction

The adhesion between metal plasma and substrate was the key of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology. The preparation of ideal SERS substrate with multiple advantages such as high sensitivity and good signal reproducibility was still the focus of research. A flexible foldable and transparent fluorinated polyimide/silver NPs (FPI@Ag) SERS film was fabricated by the ion exchange and in-situ reduction method in this work. The effects of KOH hydrolysis time, AgNO3 ion exchange time and concentration, the type and concentration of reducing agents on the SERS performance of the FPI@Ag film were systematically discussed. As a result, the hydrolysis time of KOH affected the thickness of the metallic silver layer, the concentration of AgNO3 affected the size and spacing of Ag NPs, and the Raman signal of was remarkably enhanced when borane dimethylamine complex (DMAB) was used as reducing agent. When the detection limit of 4-Aminothiophenol was as low as 1 × 10-11 mol·L-1, the obvious Raman characteristic peak still appeared. The enhancement factor (EF) was up to 9.4 × 107. The linear quantification range was achieved in the range from 10-3-10-11 mol·L-1, R2 = 0.9987. In addition, we also performed multi-cycle bending and torsion test on the FPI@Ag film, and obtained stable Raman signals. The prepared FPI@Ag film can be attached to the surface of uneven samples, which can be used for on-site Raman detection and analysis.

Functionalization of 4-aminothiophenol and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane with graphene oxide for potential dye and copper removal

In this work, 4-aminothiophenol and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane were firstly used to functionalize graphene oxide (GO) in order to promote the sorption efficiencies of methylene blue (MB) and copper (Cu(2+)). Characterization experiments illustrated that sulfydryl group (SH) and amino group (NH2) were existed onto 4-aminothiophenol modified GO (GO-SH) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane modified GO (GO-N), respectively. Adsorption isotherm results showed that the maximum adsorption capacities of MB by GO-SH and GO-N were 763.30 and 676.22mg/g, which was much higher than original GO 455.95mg/g. For Cu(2+) adsorption, the maximum adsorption capacities by GO-SH and GO-N were 99.17 and 103.28mg/g, suggesting that the engineered GO exhibited greater Cu(2+) sorption ability than original GO 32.91mg/g. Both MB and Cu(2+) removal rates increased with pH and adsorbent dosage increased, while the sorption rates weakly reduced with increasing ionic strength. The modification by SH and NH2 would not only increase the sorption sites, but also cause chelation with heavy metals, and thus improving the sorption capacities of MB and Cu(2+).