Rapid fabrication of silver nanoparticle-coated filter paper as SERS substrate for low-abundance molecules detection.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were fabricated on the fibers of the filter paper by the reaction between silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) and hydrazine hydrate (N 2 H 4 ·H 2 O). By using the Ag NPs-coated paper, the limit of detection as low as 10 − 11 M for Rhodamine B (RhB) and 10 − 10 M for crystal violet (CV) was achieved. Moreover, the uniformity, reproducibility and stability of the Ag NPs-coated paper were also involved. Meanwhile, the detection of 10 − 4 –10 − 6 M moxifloxacin in deionized water and tap water was also carried out successfully by using the paper-based substrates. The fabrication process is easy to handle, cost-efficient and the as-prepared paper-based SERS substrate is ideal for rapid and simple detection of low-abundance molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]