Recyclable surface-enhanced Raman scattering template based on nanoporous gold film/Si nanowire arrays

Nanoporous gold film (NPGF) composed of gold nanoparticles was used to cover a large Si nanowire array (SiNWA) by simple metal-assisted chemical etching and metal reduction processes. Three-dimensional SiNWA/NPGF was employed as an active substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The results show that the detection limit for crystal violet was as low as 10−12M, and the Raman enhancement factor was as large as 107 with a relative standard deviation of less than 20%. After calibrating the Raman peak intensities of crystal violet and thiram could be quantitatively detected. More importantly, the SERS substrates are recyclable and can be used for many gold surface adsorbates such as p-aminothiophenol, crystal violet, Rhodamine 6G, and methyl orange, which can all be rapidly and completely removed from the NPGF surface. Our findings are an important advance in SERS substrates and will allow the quantitative and recyclable detection of trace organic contaminants.