Synthesis of silver nanocubes as a SERS substrate for the determination of pesticide paraoxon and thiram

•Silver nanocubes as a SERS substrate has high intensity and reproducibility.•The pesticide residues of paraoxon and thiram are detected by SERS.•The low concentrations of pesticide residues such as paraoxon and thiram have been detected.

The silver cube-like nanostructure with uniform size and high yield have been synthesized through the rapid sulfide-mediated polyol method. The morphology, structure and optical properties of the as-prepared silver nanocubes were characterized by UV–Visible spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) performance of the as-prepared Ag nanocubes was characterized by crystal violet (CV) as the probe molecules. Furthermore, the low levels of thiram and pesticide paraoxon can be detected by the SERS technique, which shows that the silver nanocubes as a SERS substrate have excellent sensitivity and reproducibility.

Graphical abstractThe uniforms of silver nanocubes were prepared using a polyol method in which AgNO3 was reduced to Ag by anhydrous ethylene glycol (EG) in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and a trace amount of Na2S. The SERS substrates were prepared by adding 5 μL of silver nanocubes collosol suspensions to 5 μL different concentrations of analytes. Drop the mixture onto glasses, and natural drying at room temperature. We used the crystal violet (CV) dye as the probe molecules to detect the activity of sliver nanocubes substrates. And then use this substrate to detect paraoxon and thiram pesticides.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide