A suitable for large scale production, flexible and transparent surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate for in situ ultrasensitive analysis of chemistry reagents

•We systematically demonstrated a manufacture method for the low-cost, flexible, transparent, and highly active SERS substrate by galvanic replacement.•The synthesis technique is simple, inexpensive and provides a new idea to synthesize SERS substrate in a large scale.•The substrate can fit non-planar surface and provide in situ SERS analysis of analytes on objects.•The substrate shows high sensitivity in SERS detection and the minimum detected concentration of R6G can reach 10−10M.