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π-Conjugated poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) thin film as a SERS substrate for molecule detection application

  • Polymers & biopolymers
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Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has drawn attention to broad applications. Here, we investigate the SERS property of the π-conjugated poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) for molecule detection. The crystal structure of π-conjugated P3HT thin films is of the great significance to its SERS property. Our results show that the optimized crystal structure can significantly improve its SERS property. The SERS substrate has an excellent signal reproducibility (RSD < 10%). In addition, the SERS substrate still remains a good Raman enhancement after one year and shows excellent long-term stability compared with those of other types of SERS substrate. The result of our theory calculation shows that significant π-stacking of the probe molecules with the thiophene π-cores molecules plays an important role in the large SERS enhancement by the charge transfer mechanism. The increase in the crystallinity of the P3HT film can improve the charge transfer of the substrate molecules and the methylene blue (MB) molecules via more effective chemisorption of the probe molecules with the substrate molecules. The study contributed to the rational design of the organic semiconductor polymer SERS substrate with high sensitivity, selectivity, and long-term stability.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2232019D3-10). The Marine Biomaterials Research Joint Lab of ZIAT and Dangan Town, the Zhuhai Science and Technology Department Project (ZH22036207200025PWC, ZH22017003200028PWC, ZH22017001200078PWC), Zhuhai Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team Project (ZH22055905200017PWC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai, 201620, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Wang & Yang Lu

  2. Biomaterials R&D Center, Zhuhai Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhuhai, 519003, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Xu & Zheng Jian Chen

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  1. Tao Wang
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Correspondence to Lin Xu or Zheng Jian Chen.

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Wang, T., Lu, Y., Xu, L. et al. π-Conjugated poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) thin film as a SERS substrate for molecule detection application. J Mater Sci 57, 16965–16973 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07313-6

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