A tailorable and recyclable TiO2 NFSF/Ti@Ag NPs SERS substrate fabricated by a facile method and its applications in prohibited fish drugs detection

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), as a non-destructive spectroscopic detection tool, has been widely utilized for the detection of potential toxins. Over the past few years, SERS research has been focusing on the development of substrates that have self-cleaning properties and strong SERS enhancement qualities. This study reports the design of a recyclable and tailorable SERS substrate based on three-dimensional (3D) nanofibers film of TiO2 loaded with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The uniform TiO2 nanofibers film (TiO2 NFSF) was fabricated on the surface of Ti flakelet using hydrothermal method and Ag NPs were loaded via photocatalytic reduction to form TiO2 NFSF/Ti@Ag NPs. The designed TiO2 NFSF/Ti@Ag NPs were cut and carved to an appropriate size, and the malachite green (MG) evaluation demonstrates that the substrate has excellent uniformity, stability, reusability (at least five times), as well as high SERS enhancement factor (EF) (7.11 × 108). The developed SERS sensor has been successfully applied to detect MG in fish by using the new nanostructure. Moreover, the fabricated TiO2 NFSF/Ti@Ag NPs substrate could be employed as a promising and eco-friendly SERS enhancer for ultrasensitive detection of toxic substances found in food samples.