Potential-modulated SERS profiling via GLAD-fabricated Ag nanorod arrays for ultrasensitive and label-free spectroelectrochemical sensing†

Routine analysis of food adulterants and pharmaceutical additives at the point of care is crucial for food safety and environmental protection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based sensing has gained significant importance in various scientific and technological domains, including analytical chemistry, biomedical diagnostics, forensic science, drug discovery, environmental monitoring, and food safety. Electrochemical SERS (EC-SERS) enhances the technique by regulating surface charge, adsorption, desorption dynamics, and redox processes, improving signal intensity and selectivity. Despite having advantages, developing EC-SERS sensors for field applications remains constrained by the limited availability of robust and reproducible SERS-active electrochemical substrates. This study introduces a cutting-edge portable EC-SERS platform, leveraging silver (Ag) nanorods engineered onto screen-printed electrodes via a thermal evaporation-based glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique. This innovative approach ensures exceptional signal enhancement, outstanding sensitivity, and remarkable reproducibility, making it a powerful tool for high-precision molecular detection. Potential-modulated SERS profiling of p-aminothiophenol, 1,2-bis-(4-pyridyl)ethylene, and melamine was carried out at various electrochemical potentials. Additionally, the maximum signal enhancement was achieved at an optimized potential (V_max), enabling the detection of melamine with a remarkable limit of 10 pM, surpassing previously reported substrates. The results highlight the promise of GLAD-fabricated AgNRs@SPE as a sensitive, label-free, reusable, and portable EC-SERS platform. This platform will present significant improvements in detecting analytes relevant to analytical chemistry, the pharmaceutical industry, and drug control.