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UV-light-assisted preparation of MoO3−x/Ag NPs film and investigation on the SERS performance

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Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique is a powerful spectrum analysis technique for the ultra-low molecular trace detection. Conventionally, noble metals like silver (Ag) and gold (Au) are used to prepare the SERS substrates; however, limitations of complicated experimental designs and sophisticated process steps impede their wide applications in practice. Recently, metal oxides arise as a promising material for SERS application, but relatively weak Raman signal enhancement and poor material stability still pose as a challenge. Here, a UV-light-assisted fabrication of MoO3−x/silver nanoparticles (MoO3−x/Ag NPs) film is proposed. In the experiment, the sub-transition-metal-oxide of MoO3−x was used as the Raman chemical enhancement substrate as well as the reducing agent. Through the spin-coating of MoO3−x layer on the silicon substrate and UV-light-assisted reduction of silver nitride (AgNO3) on the MoO3−x layer, a novel MoO3−x/Ag NPs one-layer film was fabricated. Using the Rhodamine B (RhB) as the Raman reporter, SERS measurement shows that enhancement factor (EF) of 1.195 × 106 could be achieved. Moreover, a Raman signal amplifying strategy is further demonstrated by constructing MoO3−x/Ag NPs multi-layer films. And result evidences that maximum gain of 2.07 for the RhB Raman peak at 1280 cm−1 can be obtained on the MoO3−x/Ag NPs three-layer film when referred to that on the MoO3−x/Ag NPs one-layer film. Meanwhile, the EF of the MoO3−x/Ag NPs three-layer film is also improved to 2.985 × 106, giving the minimum detectable concentration of 10−9 M.

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Acknowledgement

This research was funded by National Natural Science Funding of China (Grant No. 61704095), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LY19F050002), the Natural Science Funding of Ningbo (Grant No. 2019A610058) and the K.C. Wong Magna Fund in Ningbo University. This project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 798916.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Photonics, Ningbo University, 818 Feng Hua Road 315211, Ningbo, China

    Zhiqiang Niu, Canliang Zhou, Jiawei Wang, Yinghao Xu, Chenjie Gu, Tao Jiang & Jun Zhou

  2. XLIM Research Institute, UMR 7252, CNRS/University of Limoges, Avenue Albert Thomas, 87060, Limoges, France

    Shuwen Zeng

  3. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Heibei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Tianjin, 300401, China

    Yonghui Zhang

  4. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Diing Shenp Ang

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  1. Zhiqiang Niu
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  2. Canliang Zhou
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  4. Yinghao Xu
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Niu, Z., Zhou, C., Wang, J. et al. UV-light-assisted preparation of MoO3−x/Ag NPs film and investigation on the SERS performance. J Mater Sci 55, 8868–8880 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04669-5

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