Fabrication of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates Using Silver Nanoparticles Produced by Laser Ablation in Liquids

TL;DR

This study presents a cost-effective method for fabricating stable silver nanoparticle-based SERS substrates via laser ablation in water, optimizing parameters for enhanced Raman signal detection in biological samples.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, inexpensive technique for producing chemically stable silver nanoparticles for SERS, with optimized laser parameters for improved enhancement.

Findings

AgNPs synthesized with 12 hrs ablation show 14.95x Raman enhancement.

The SERS substrates are chemically stable over several days.

Effective detection of blood and biological samples demonstrated.

Abstract

This research describes the use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates based on colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) produced by laser ablation of silver granules in pure water that are inexpensive, easy to make, and chemically stable. Here, the effects of the laser power, pulse repetition frequency, and ablation duration on the Surface Plasmon Resonance peak of AgNPs solutions, were used to determine the optimal parameters. Also, the effects of the laser ablation time on both ablation efficiency and SERS enhancement were studied. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer and Raman spectrometer. The Surface Plasmon Resonance peak of AgNP solutions was centered at 404 nm confirming their synthesis. Using Raman spectroscopy, they had main bands centered at 196, 568, 824, 1060, 1312 cm-1, 1538 and 2350 cm-1. Their Raman spectral profiles remained constant within the first few days of storage at room temperature implying chemical stability. The Raman signals from blood were enhanced when mixed with AgNPs and this depended on colloidal AgNPs concentration. Using those generated by 12 hrs ablation time, an enhancement of 14.95 was achieved. Additionally, these substrates had an insignificant impact on the Raman profiles of samples of rat blood when mixed with them. The Raman peaks noted were 932, 1064, 1190, 1338, 1410, 1650 and 2122 cm-1. These SERS substrates can be applied to areas such as forensics, monitoring of the efficacy of drugs, disease diagnostics and pathogen detection. All this can be achieved by comparing the Raman spectra of the biological samples mixed with the synthesized SERS substrates for different samples. Thus, the results on the use of inexpensive, simple-to-prepare Raman substrates have the possibility of making surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy available to laboratories with scarce resources in developing nations.