Rapid and highly sensitive SERS detection of fungicide based on flexible “wash free” metallic textile

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) as a powerful sensing tool has been widely used in the food and medical sciences as it is a rapid, convenient and sensitive mean of detecting chemicals, proteins, microorganisms, etc. A variety of different SERS substrates have been fabricated by using conventional methods to contribute to the practical applications of SERS sensing. Inspired by the noble metals which have excellent SERS activity, silver (Ag) is used in this study to coat cotton fabric on a large-scale by using magnetron sputtering. The properties of Ag-coated cotton fabric samples as SERS substrates are evaluated by Raman spectra of the molecular probe, and the mechanisms are also discussed by using finite-difference time-domain simulation and 3D Raman mapping. Its limit of detection for thiram is far lower than the national standard, thus indicating that the substrate in this study is an excellent SERS substrate for use in food science.