Immersion-plated palladium nanoparticles onto meso-porous silicon layer as novel SERS substrate for sensitive detection of imidacloprid pesticide

Herein, we demonstrate the effectiveness of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) to detect trace concentration of potentially harmful imidacloprid pesticide. To achieve this ultimate objective, a rapid and highly effective methodology for the fabrication of active and stable porous silicon (PSi) plated palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) SERS substrates by an electrochemical anodization and immersion plating routes was applied. The PSi layers were fabricated by the electrochemical anodization of a silicon wafer in ethanoic fluoride solution, followed by uniformly deposition of PdNPs via a simple immersion plating technique. The structural features and morphology of fabricated frameworks of PSi-Pd NPs have been investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra. The PSi substrate demonstrates a meso-porous morphology with good distribution, good pore density and average pore sizes around 20 nm. The SERS performance of Si–Pd NPs and PSi–Pd NPs substrates has been examined taking imidacloprid (an insecticide) as a target analyte. The SERS signal of imidacloprid using PSi–Pd NPs substrate exhibited immense enhancement compared to the Si-Pd NPs substrate. The active substrate revealed excellent detectable performance with a concentration as low as 10–9 M imidacloprid and an enhancement factor (EF) of 1.2 × 105. This large EF is fundamentally ascribed to the combined effect of the electromagnetic improvement and charge transfer mechanisms. Additionally, no aging effect was observed for the present substrates kept in air for two weeks. Striking enhancement in Raman spectral signals obtained with the current PSi–Pd NPs substrates can provide a simple and smooth platform towards the sensitive detection of various target analytes.

Immersion-plated Palladium Nanoparticles onto Meso-porous Silicon Layer as Novel SERS Substrate for Sensitive Detection of Imidacloprid Pesticide

Herein, we report a rapid and highly effective methodology for the fabrication of active and stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate by an electrochemical anodization and immersion plating routes. Porous silicon (PSi) layers were fabricated by the electrochemical anodization of a silicon wafer in ethanoic fluoride solution, followed by uniformly deposition of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) via a simple immersion plating technique. The structural features and morphology of fabricated frameworks of PSi-Pd NPs have been investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra. The PSi substrate demonstrates a meso-porous morphology with good distribution, good pore density and average pore sizes around 20 nm. The SERS performance of Si–Pd NPs and PSi–Pd NPs substrates has been examined taking imidacloprid (an insecticide) as a target analyte. The SERS signal of imidacloprid using PSi–Pd NPs substrate exhibited immense enhancement compared to the Si-Pd NPs substrate. The active substrate revealed excellent detectable performance with a concentration as low as 10-9 M imidacloprid and an enhancement factor (EF) of 1.2×105. This large EF is fundamentally ascribed to the combined effect of electromagnetic improvement and charge transfer mechanism. Additionally, no aging effect was observed for the present substrates kept in air for two weeks. Striking enhancement in Raman spectral signals obtained with the current PSi–Pd NPs substrates provides a simple and smooth platform towards the sensitive detection of various target analytes.

Universal route to fabricate facile and flexible micro-supercapacitors with gold-coated silver electrodes

For the first time, a facile, cost-effective and universal route to fabricate the flexible Ag@Au MSCs was proposed. Au protective layer improves the performances of MSCs. This technique combines surface ion-exchange process with immersion plating.

Effect of Immersion Coating Deposition Time on Solder Joint Properties

Surface finishes on copper pads have been known to be one of influential factor in the solder joint quality. This due to the difference in interfacial reaction and intermetallic compound formation on solder pad was strongly influence by the type of surface finishes. Deposition times during immersion plating process on copper pads are important as the thickness of coating will decide several properties of surface finish, such as wettability during soldering process. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effect of deposition time of immersion gold coating on wettability of the surface finish and how it affect the formation of intermetallic compounds on solder joint. In this works, deposition time of copper pads in immersion gold solution were varied from 3 minutes up to 15 minutes. The thickness of immersion gold layer that form on Cu pads were then measured using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). As the main objective of this study is to study the effect of deposition time during immersion plating process towards solder joint, the pads were reflowed along with Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder in furnace under temperature 250 °C for 25 minutes. Then, the cross sections of the solder joints were examined using optical microscope in order to measure the wetting angle and thickness of intermetallic compound formed; which acceptable value in industrial area, should be below 40 ̊ and below 4μm as reflow respectively.