Femtosecond laser-induced nanoparticle implantation into flexible substrate for sensitive and reusable microfluidics SERS detection

Abstract Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) microfluidic system, which enables rapid detection of chemical and biological analytes, offers an effective platform to monitor various food contaminants and disease diagnoses. The efficacy of SERS microfluidic systems is greatly dependent on the sensitivity and reusability of SERS detection substrates to ensure repeated use for prolonged periods. This study proposed a novel process of femtosecond laser nanoparticle array (NPA) implantation to achieve homogeneous forward transfer of gold NPA on a flexible polymer film and accurately integrated it within microfluidic chips for SERS detection. The implanted Au-NPA strips show a remarkable electromagnetic field enhancement with the factor of 9 × 10⁸ during SERS detection of malachite green (MG) solution, achieving a detection limit lower than 10 ppt, far better than most laser-prepared SERS substrates. Furthermore, Au-NPA strips show excellent reusability after several physical and chemical cleaning, because of the robust embedment of laser-implanted NPA in flexible substrates. To demonstrate the performance of Au-NPA, a SERS microfluidic system is built to monitor the online oxidation reaction between MG/NaClO reactants, which helps infer the reaction path. The proposed method of nanoparticle implantation is more effective than the direct laser structuring technique. It provides better performance for SERS detection, robustness of detection, and substrate flexibility and has a wider range of applications for microfluidic systems without any negative impact.