Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-Based Approach for Ultrasensitive and Selective Detection of Hydrazine.

A probe mediated SERS-based strategy is developed to selectively detect hydrazine with superb sensitivity. Ortho-phthaldialdehyde, a simple probe, reacts specifically with hydrazine to form phthalazine, a molecule that possesses a larger Raman cross section and better affinity toward the SERS substrate. We observed a limit of detection of 8.5 × 10(-11) M. Our method shows both qualitative and quantitative measurement of hydrazine with high sensitivity, low cost, and fast analysis time.