Determination of trichloroethylene by using self-referenced SERS and gold-core/silver-shell nanoparticles.

A surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method has been developed to determine the concentration of trichloroethylene (TCE) in environmental water. Au-core/Ag-shell nanoparticles containing 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid (4-MPBA) between the core and shell are used as the SERS substrate. 4-MPBA serves as an internal reference with a Raman shift at 534 cm-1. TCE reacts with 4-mercaptopyridine (4-MPy) in a so-called Fujiwara reaction. With the presence of TCE in water, the consumption of 4-MPy results in a change in the intensity of its Raman signal at 1220 cm-1. The ratio of the Raman shift at 1220 cm-1 and 534 cm-1 decreases linearly in the 0.2 to 1.0 μM TCE concentration range, and the detection limit of TCE is as low as 8 ppb (60 nM). The method has been successfully applied to the determination of TCE in spiked lake water. Graphical abstract Gold-core/silver-shell nanoparticles with internal reference embedded have been fabracated to improve the quantitative measurement of SERS. These nanoparticles as SERS substrates, are used to indirectly quantify the concentration of trichloroethylene (a typical halogenated organic compound) by the consumption of 4-mercaptopyridine through the Fujiwara reaction.