SiO2@Au nanoshells-based SERS method for detection of sunset yellow and chrysoidine

•Novel SERS substrate SiO2@Au nanoshells have been synthesized.•Rapid assessment to sunset yellow and chrysoidine have been made by SERS.•The optimal growth cycles and environment pH have been compared.•The limit of detection is 1 ppm and 0.5 ppm for sunset yellow and chrysoidine.

A novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate made up of SiO2@Au nanoshells has been developed for detecting sunset yellow and chrysoidine. It exhibits an excellent enrichment SERS effect on these two colorant molecules. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to determine the molecular structure and theoretical Raman spectra. This provided a good description of the characteristic peaks of the molecules. In addition, the appropriate thicknesses of the shell and environment pH have been derived to obtain improved SERS signals. The lowest concentration is 1 ppm and 0.5 ppm for sunset yellow and chrysoidine, respectively. Under optimal detection condition, it has proved possible to distinguish each colorant by its characteristic peaks in the SERS spectra of a mixture of the two colorants.

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