Superhydrophobic Ag–Cu Composite Metal Film as Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate

Abstract

In this paper, a superhydrophobic Ag–Cu composite metal film was fabricated as surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate. Ag–Cu composite metal film was prepared from galvanic displacement on commercial copper foil. The prepared silver films were modified by PFDT to create a stable superhydrophobic SERS platform. Superhydrophobic substrates were characterized by a variety of characterization methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis, XPS and Raman spectra. The superhydrophobic substrate could enrich probing molecules with the volatilization of solvent. Mathematical model was presented and applied to investigate concentration factor of hydrophobic substrate. The measurements were in good agreement with the calculation results. The superhydrophobic Ag–Cu composite metal film can reduce the detection limits and provide a new way to prepare efficient SERS substrates for ultra-low concentration detection.