Thiol-End-Group Dendrons Decorated with Gold Nanoparticles Immobilized on Amino-Functionalized Graphene Oxide for SERS Detection

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has abundant chemical fingerprint information to analyze complex analytes under aqueous conditions. However, SERS requires uniform metal particles to generate a hotspot effect and improve sensitivity and enhancement by localized surface plasmon resonance. Therefore, in this study, SERS detection chips have been developed using uniform gold nanoparticle (AuNP) arrays embedded on thiol-end-group dendritic polymers immobilized on aminofunctionalized graphene oxide (AGO) thin films of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids. The graphene oxide (GO) thin film was fabricated by low-damage plasma with mixed gas (O2/H2) and then further functionalized by diethylenetriamine to form AGO substrates. Based on the efficient building block of dual-functional 4-isocyanato-4 '-(3,3-dimethyl-2,4-dioxo-azetidino)-diphenylmethane (IDD), the 0.5 and 1.5 generations of thiol-end-functionalized poly(urea/malonamide) dendrons (DG0.5-SH and DG1.5-SH) were precisely synthesized and grafted onto AGO substrates. The interparticle gap of AuNPs could be well controlled and decorated on these thiol-end-group dendrons to achieve the optimal SERS enhancement effect by manipulating the sizes of AuNPs and generating dendrons. The results indicate that 31 nm AuNPs immobilized on the DG0.5-SH@AGO substrate exhibited reproducible and strong SERS enhancement compared with free AuNPs. Graphene-based SERS substrates provide rapid and stable SERS detection in solutions, which offers great potential for practical applications in detecting biomolecules and environmental pollutants.