SUBSTRATE BASED ON MEMBRANE FILTER FOR SENSITIVE BIOMARKER AND NANO-SIZE CONTAMINANT DETECTION

In fifteen words or less, explain the significance of this contribution (Novel Aspect).: Enhanced Raman and FT-IR detection using a methanol-NaCl pretreated, AgNP-coated filter substrate.

Abstract Text:

This work presents a novel filter-based substrate for enhanced sensitivity in Raman spectroscopy and  improve ATR FT-IR analysis. The substrate was fabricated by pre-treating membrane filters with methanol and an aqueous NaCl solution, followed by silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) deposition using the Silver Mirror Reaction (SMR) and low-pressure suction filtration.  The platform’s performance was evaluated using glucocorticoids (GCs) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanoparticles—analytes of high relevance to health and environmental monitoring.  GCs are steroid hormones necessary for metabolism, stress regulation, and immunological modulation, while PET nanoparticles have potential impacts on health due to their presence in found in food and water sources.
Rhodamine 6G was used as a reference probe to benchmark our substrate against a commercially available paper-based silver SERS substrate (P-SERS, Metrohm ). Techniques such as Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and UV-Vis are used to validate the results. Statistical analysis using variance (ANOVA) was performed to confirm the platform's potential for reliable and sensitive detection of important analytes.