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Construction of Flexible Substrates Based on Transition Metal Nitrides for Ultrasensitive SERS Analysis
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Researchers developed a rapid 20-second microwave crystallization method to produce ultrathin transition metal nitride films with more than 10-fold greater specific surface area than conventionally annealed materials, then used these flexible films as highly sensitive SERS substrates capable of detecting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nanoplastics.
Flexible transition metal nitrides (TMNs) are considered key candidate materials for constructing next-generation high-performance flexible sensing devices. However, their strong metal-nitrogen bonds require high-temperature synthesis, which tends to cause spontaneous aggregation into three-dimensional bulk materials, making it difficult to obtain ultrathin two-dimensional materials suitable for flexible devices. This study proposes an innovative rapid and nondestructive microwave crystallization method. By ingeniously leveraging the abundant free electrons in quasi-metallic TMN nanostructures, electromagnetic irradiation induces efficient microwave heating, achieving exceptional crystallization within 20 s. This method effectively circumvents the sintering of ultrathin nanostructures inherent to conventional high-temperature annealing and increases the specific surface area of the product by more than 10-fold. Based on this method, dense and robust flexible TMN films with ultrahigh specific surface area and excellent chemical stability have been successfully obtained, enabling highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and nanoplastics.
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