Facile coupling of plasmonic Au-NPs on ZnS NFs as a robust SERS substrate for toluidine blue detection and degradation.

Background: The robustness and sensitivity of the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique heavily relies on the development of SERS active materials. A hybrid of semiconductor and plasmonic metals is highly effective as a SERS substrate, which enables the trace level detection of various organic pollutants.

Results: This approach demonstrates the photodeposition of plasmonic gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) on the surface of semiconductor-zinc sulfide nanoflowers (ZnS NFs), grown via the hydrothermal route.