Practical application
of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)
is greatly limited by the inaccurate quantitative analyses due to
the measuring parameter’s fluctuations induced by different
operators, different Raman spectrometers, and different test sites
and moments, especially during the field tests. Herein, we develop
a strategy of quantitative SERS for field detection via designing
structurally homogeneous and ordered Ag-coated Si nanocone arrays.
Such an array is fabricated as SERS chips by depositing Ag on the
template etching-induced Si nanocone array. Taking 4-aminothiophenol
as the typical analyte, the influences of fluctuations in measuring
parameters (such as defocusing depth and laser powers) on Raman signals
are systematically studied, which significantly change SERS measurements.
It has been shown that the silicon underneath the Ag coating in the
chip can respond to the measuring parameters’ fluctuations
synchronously with and similar to the analyte adsorbed on the chip
surface, and the normalization with Si Raman signals can well eliminate
the big fluctuations (up to 1 or 2 orders of magnitude) in measurements,
achieving highly reproducible measurements (mostly, <5% in signal
fluctuations) and accurate quantitative SERS analyses. Finally, the
simulated field tests demonstrate that the developed strategy enables
quantitatively analyzing the highly scattered SERS measurements well
with 1 order of magnitude in signal fluctuation, exhibiting good practicability.
This study provides a new practical chip and reliable quantitative
SERS for the field detection of real samples.
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