Performance assessment of Au SERS substrates prepared by deposition of Au nanoparticles on screen-printed SiO2 particle films

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a highly studied technique for simple and rapid trace analysis. Screen-printing, a low-cost fabrication method, has been proposed as a reproducible and affordable approach for the preparation of 3D SERS-active substrates. In this work, a new solution-based film fabrication method is proposed for the preparation of Au@SiO2 3D SERS-active substrates. The procedure involved the synthesis of SiO2 nanoparticles for the deposition of thin porous SiO2 films on silica slides using a screen-printing approach. Annealed SiO2 particle films were subsequently functionalized to promote the adsorption of Au nanoparticles in the SiO2 matrix. Materials and films were characterized using several methods. The effects of particle properties and paste formulation on the analytical SERS performance of the film were studied using Rhodamine 6G as the target analyte; even though it is difficult to compare between studies, due to the lack of well-established standardization protocols.