Investigating the effect and mechanism of zirconium carbide (ZrC) nanofibers as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate

Traditional surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates typically rely on electromagnetic enhancement, which is predominantly generated by noble metal particles. While their practical limitations hinder widespread application. In contrast, semiconductor substrates have garnered increasing attention in the SERS field due to their capacity to address many of the shortcomings associated with noble metal particles. In this study, we investigated the SERS effect and enhancement mechanism of a novel transition metal carbide (ZrC), further enhancing its performance through morphological alterations and element doping. The detection limits for Rhodamine 6G and Methylene blue using the prepared substrate were found to be remarkably low at 1 × 10 -8 M and 1 × 10 -6 M. To elucidate the enhancement mechanism, Density Functional Theory and Finite Element Analysis were employed. These simulations demonstrated that the observed enhancement arises from chemical mechanisms. The charge transfer process between the SERS substrate and the probe molecule resulted in significantly amplified Raman signals.