Au nanocakes as a SERS sensor for on site and ultrafast detection of dioxins

Dioxin is a highly toxic and carcinogenic pollutant created during industrial production and waste incineration. Pollutant monitoring has made extensive use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as a quick, non-destructive, sensitive, and affordable analytical method. However, the fabrication of a SERS substrate with ultrahigh sensitivity is a challenging task, the detection cost is expensive. Currently, these are the challenges faced by SERS technique for the detection of dioxin pollutants. In this paper, we present Au nanocakes (Au NCs) as an easy-to-build SERS substrate for sensitive SERS detection of dioxins in real samples. Based on three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (3D-FDTD) calculations, the enhancement factor of the substrate following aggregation is approximately 1010. Using a portable Raman spectrometer, the limit of detection for dioxins such as 1-chloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (1-CDD), 2,8-dichloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (2,8-DCDD), and 2,3,7-trichloro-dibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7-TrCDD) in clean water reached as low as 5, 5, and 10 ng/mL, respectively. As a real-world application, the same toxic pollutants were detected in sewage water samples. Our findings could lead to the development of novel SERS-based sensors for the rapid detection of dioxins in real-world scenarios. Moreover, a portable Raman spectrometer is used to detect the pollutants, which is easy to use and inexpensive.