Hao Fu: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Weiwei Liu: State Key Laboratory of NBC Protection for Civilian, Beijing 102205, China.
Junqing Li: Dongying City Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dongying 257000, China.
Qian Zhao: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Haoming Bao: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Le Zhou: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China. ORCID
Shuyi Zhu: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Jinglin Kong: State Key Laboratory of NBC Protection for Civilian, Beijing 102205, China.
Hongwen Zhang: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China.
Weiping Cai: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institues of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China. ORCID
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) provides an unprecedented opportunity for fingerprinting identification and trace-level detection in chemistry, biomedicine, materials, and so on. Although great efforts have been devoted to fabricating sensitive plasmonic nanomaterials, it is still challenging to batch-produce a SERS substrate with high sensitivity, good reproducibility, and perfect recyclability. Here, we describe a facile fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical Au/CuS nanocomposites, in which high-density Au nanotips enable highly SERS-active sensing, and the well-defined microflower (MF) geometry produces perfect signal reproducibility (RSD < 5%) for large laser spot excitations (>50 μm2), which is particularly suitable for practical on-site detection with a handheld Raman spectrometer. In addition, a self-cleaning ability of this Au/CuS Schottky junction photocatalyst under sunlight irradiation allows complete removal of the adsorbed analytes, realizing perfect regeneration of the SERS substrates over many cycles. The mass-production, ultra-sensitive, high-reproducibility, and fast-recyclability features of hierarchical Au/CuS MFs greatly facilitate cost-effective and field SERS detection of trace analytes in practice.
