Multiple depositions of Ag nanoparticles on chemically modified agarose films for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

A facile and cost-effective approach for the preparation of a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate through constructing silver nanoparticle/3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane/agarose films (Ag NPs/APTES/Agar film) on various solid supports is described. The SERS performance of the substrate was systematically investigated, revealing a maximum SERS intensity with four layers of the Ag NP deposition. The enhancement factor of the developed substrate was calculated as 1.5 × 10 ⁷ using rhodamine 6G (R6G) as the probe molecule, and the reproducibility of the SERS signals was established. A high throughput screening platform was designed, manufactured and implemented which utilised the ability to cast agarose to assemble arrays. Quantitative analysis of 4-aminobenzoic acid (4-ABA) and 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) was achieved over a ∼0.5 nM-0.1 μM range.