In
this work, TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated on
Ti meshes via anodic oxidation and decorated with Ag nanoparticles
by a photodeposition process. Then the surface-enhanced Raman scattering
(SERS) effect of the as-prepared samples for trace thiram was directly
investigated in a thiram aqueous solution. The stability and selectivity
of our substrates were also explored. In addition, for practical purposes,
we further studied the SERS of trace thiram in tap water using the
as-prepared sample as a SERS substrate. At last, the surface-enhanced
mechanism was discussed preliminarily. It can be found that the Ag-nanoparticle-decorated
TiO2 nanotube array on a Ti mesh is an ultrasensitive SERS
substrate for trace thiram in water. The detection limits are up to
1 × 10–9 mol L–1 in deionized
water and 1 × 10–7 mol L–1 in tap water, respectively. Moreover, this substrate possesses dramatic
signal uniformity [relative standard deviation <6% (spot-to-spot)],
excellent reproducibility [relative standard deviation <4.7% (batch-to-batch)],
high selectivity, and good stability. These results indicate that
this inexpensive substrate possesses great potential as a highly sensitive,
disposable, and “plug and play” SERS substrate for the
in situ detection of trace thiram in drinking water.