Application of Delafossite AgFeO 2 Nanoparticles as SERS Substrate and Antimicrobial Agent

Abstract We have used simple chemical route to synthesize delafossite silver ferrite (AgFeO 2 ) nanoparticles (NPs). AgFeO 2 NPs were utilized as Raman substrate for detection of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules. AgFeO 2 NPs substrate show excellent Surface‐enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) activity, which enables ultrasensitive detection of R6G with a concentration down to 1 picomolar (1 pM) with an enhancement factor (EF) of 1.6×10 10 . The observed SERS signal enhancement in this AgFeO 2 NPs system is attributed to a combination of electromagnetic (EM) enhancement, charge ‐ transfer (CT) effect between R6G analyte molecules and AgFeO 2 NPs surface and Resonance Raman (RR) effect. Further, AgFeO 2 NPs were used to study its antibacterial activity against certain different pathogenic bacteria. The antibacterial studies showed that the AgFeO 2 NPs possesses potential inhibitory effect against both Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria. In addition, AgFeO 2 NPs was found cytotoxic to yeast cells. The stable aqueous colloids of AgFeO 2 NPs may find potential applications in the biomedical field as a sensing platform for the trace level detection of analyte molecules and antimicrobial agent.