Simply Developed Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Sensors for Ultra-Sensitive Detection of Lindane Pesticide
摘要
Agriculture products with lindane residues pose serious health threats, including infertility in men and women and some types of cancer. Reproductive issues, such as decreased fertility and abnormal development, have been linked to long-term lindane exposure. In the present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) coated on glass slides were developed through simple and cost-effective methods to be used as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors. Then, different concentrations of lindane solutions (10−1 to 10−10 M) were prepared via serial dilution, deposited on the substrates and evaluated via Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to validate the empirical results. For investigating the enhancement factor (EF), along with experimental calculations, the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method was used for the simulation of electric field distribution surrounding the modeled substrate. The limit of detection (LOD) for the identification of lindane using the developed sensors was obtained to be 10−10 M. In addition, EFs were computed to be 105 and 1.2967 × 105 for the concentration of 10−6 M using experimental and numerical methods, respectively. These simple, cost-effective, and straightforwardly developed substrates can be considered sensitive sensors for many applications. Future research should focus on the detection of trace lindane in real samples, including agricultural and food products.