In-situ SERS monitoring of reaction catalyzed by multifunctional Fe3O4@TiO2@Ag-Au microspheres

•Multifunctional Fe3O4@TiO2@Ag-Au microspheres (MS) are prepared.•The MS exhibit excellent catalytic activity attached with in-situ SERS monitoring.•They have good photocatalytic performance and reusability by magnetic separation.•The FDTD simulation shows the significantly increases of the 'hot spot'.

Multifunctional Fe3O4@TiO2@Ag-Au microspheres (MS) were synthesized by grafting Ag nanoparticles onto 3-Aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) modified Fe3O4@TiO2 MS, followed by galvanic replacement approach to fabricate Ag-Au bimetallic nanostructures with variable bimetallic molar ratios. The composite with Au-to-Ag ratio of 1:1 exhibits optimal catalytic activity for reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Furthermore, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation study shows that incorporating Au-Ag bimetallic nanostructures onto Fe3O4@TiO2 MS significantly increases the effect of the 'hot spot', offering stronger electromagnetic field enhancements. Indeed, the Fe3O4@TiO2@Ag-Au was demonstrated to be an excellent substrate material for in-situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) monitoring of the reaction process. Combined with its good magnetic and photocatalytic performance allowing facile recovery, Fe3O4@TiO2@Ag-Au MS shows great potential for multifunctional platform for simultaneous catalysis and in-situ reaction monitoring.

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