Modified paper‐based substrates fabricated via electrostatic attraction of gold nanospheres for non‐destructive detection of pesticides based on surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract BACKGROUND Flexible surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates such as paper‐based substrates show great potential for rapid detection of residual chemicals on food surfaces. However, controlling the density and distribution of metallic nanoparticles adsorbed on the paper is still challenging. RESULTS The amount of gold (Au) nanospheres (51 ± 4 nm) attached on the filter paper modified with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was tunable, increasing as the level of APTES (2.5–15.0 g kg −1 ) applied for paper modification increased. Moreover, the Au nanospheres were relative evenly distributed on the filter paper modified with 2.5–10.0 g kg −1 of APTES, which resulted in excellent intra‐ and inter‐reproducibility of SERS signals for pesticides including thiram, diquat dibromide, and paraquat dichloride (relative standard deviation = 2.2–10.1%). The modified paper‐based substrate could be used to detect as low as 0.05–0.2 mg L −1 of pesticides in standard solutions, and as low as 5–20 ng cm −2 of residual pesticides on apple skins with minimum sample pretreatment. CONCLUSION This paper‐based substrate with tunable feature for the density and distribution of nanoparticles is applicable for rapid SERS detection of residual pesticides in fruits and vegetables. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.