SERS based determination of vanillin and its methyl and ethyl derivatives using flower-like silver nanoparticles on a silicon wafer.

A surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method is described for the determination of vanillin, methyl vanillin and ethyl vanillin at trace levels. Flower-like silver nanoparticles on a silicon wafer are used as the SERS substrate, and the analytes can be specifically and non-destructively recognized by their specific Raman bands. The molecules can be recognized rapidly by identifying the characteristic bands. The SERS spectra of vanillin (C8H8O3) were used as mid-contrast, and specific bands of methyl vanillin and ethyl vanillin (C9H10O3) were acquired at 775 cm-1, 1350 cm-1 and 1282 cm-1, 1382 cm-1, respectively. In addition, by using an improved principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm, the organic molecule can be quantitatively determined. Dissolved in water, vanillin, methyl vanillin and ethyl vanillin still can be detected at a concentration of 10-8 M, at which their characteristic Raman peaks are still visible. The method was successfully applied to the determination of vanillin in milk powder products. Graphical abstract Vanillin can be identified at trace levels by laser irradiation of milk and by using flower-like silver nanoparticles as the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. Vanillin and its methyl and ethyl derivatives can be quantitatively analyzed by the principal component analysis (PCA) algorithm.

Rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of food colorants by both Raman spectra and Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS).

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) spectroscopy technology is widely used in materials analysis, environmental monitoring, biomedical, food security and other fields. Flower-shaped silver nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by a simple aqueous phase silver nitrate reduction by ascorbic acid in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant. The nanoparticles diameters were adjusted from 450 to 1000nm with surface protrusions up to 10-25nm. The flower-shaped silver nanostructures obtained were used as stable SERS substrates with high SERS activity for detecting Rhodamine 6G (R6G), at a concentration of only 10-9mol/L, where the SERS signal is still clear. SERS spectroscopy of four different food colorants (e.g. food blue, tartrazine, sunset yellow, acid red) were analysed and the characteristic bands were identified. An improved principle component analysis (PCA) was used for four different food colorants detection, at concentrations down to about 10-8mol/L. Thus, the LOD of food blue, tartrazine, sunset yellow and acid red are 79.285µg/L, 5.3436µg/L, 45.238µg/L and 50.244µg/L, respectively.

Design of a silver nanoparticle for sensitive surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection of carmine dye.

Flower-shaped silver nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by a simple aqueous phase silver nitrate reduction by ascorbic acid in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) surfactant. The nanoparticles diameters were adjusted from 450 to 1000nm with surface protrusions up to 10-25nm. The growth direction of silver nuclei is controlled by their degree of coating by PVP. The flower-shaped silver nanostructures obtained were used as stable Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) substrates with high SERS activity for detecting Rhodamine 6G (R6G), at a concentration of only 10-9M, where the SERS signal is still clear. SERS spectra of the dye carmine was analysed and the characteristic bands were identified. An improved principle component analysis (PCA) was used for carmine detection, at concentrations down to 10-8M. The characteristic peaks of the carmine (1019, 1360, and 1573cm-1) remained at 10-8M. This indicated that the minimum detection limit of AgNP-based substrate for carmine is about 10-8M.

Quantitative Analysis of Mg, Fe and Ca in Jade with Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.

Based on laser induced breakdown spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, The calibration curve of the main elements Mg, Cr and trace element Fe in the Jade samples is obtained based on experimental results. In the experiment, LIBS experiment conditions were 3 µs delay, 110 accumulated laser pulse, 100 mJ·pulse-1, 10 Hz pulse repetition frequency, plasma in Nanyang jade was induced using nono-second Nd∶YAG (wavelength: 1 064 nm) laser as the excitation source in the atmosphere envtronment of the laboratory. The spectral lines in the 300~1 000 nm wavelength range have been identified with the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Through comparing the characteristic spectrum with the National Institute of standards and Technology Research Institute (NIST) database, the element of Mg, Ca and Fe are found in the Jade samples. Using the X-ray fluorescence spectra analyzed the metal elements Mg, Cr and Fe in Nanyang standard jade and obtained the content of elemental oxides, taking the content as standard data and selecting the high content element Al as internal standard element. According to LIBS calibration curve, we can calculate the content of 3 elements in the measured sample. The result shows that the concentration of elements locate in their corresponding standards range, for example, go(0.28%~1.73%), and Fe2O3 (0~0.8%), CaO ( 18%~20%).Because of its unique features, like the absence of sample preparation, the ability to perform real-time, and in situ analysis as well as the quasi non-destruction and micro-analysis character of the measurements, so as to verify the feasibility of LIBS application in jade.

Preparation and SERS Study of Silver Microstructures with Dendritic Shape.

In the surface ehanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology, not only to improve the making process of SERS substrates, to be fast and easily, but also to enhance the SERS enhance factor, an easy replacement reaction between zinc and silver nitrate solution has been adopted to prepare silver micro-structures SERS-active substrate. The silver micro-substrates have many advantages. These substrates have good stability, well preservation, an easy making method and a fast making process. The surface profile of the silver microparticles is investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The silver microstructures are dendritic shape in a symmetrical fashion with symmetrical distribution. When the time of the replace reaction is 40, 50 and 60 s, respectively, the average lengths of "trunks" in the silver dendritic microsubstractes are about 3, 5 and 10 µm, and the lengths of the "branches" are about 700 nm, 2 µm and 3 µm, respectively. The result shows that the longer time the replacement reaction takes, the longer lengths of the "trunks" and "branches" in the silver dendritic microsubstractes become. With the time of replace reaction increasing, the "trunk" and "branch" in the silver dendritic microsubstractes grow longer and a large amount of nano-level "leaves" grow out from the "branches" of the silver dendritic microsubstractes, so the silver micro size dendrates have nano level structure on surface. In order to investigate the SERS-active substrates application in SERS, a Fourier transform Raman spectrograph with a 1 064 nm laser wavelength is used to measure the SERS spectra. And good SERS spectra have been obtained by using dendritic silver microsubstrates on the silicon chip as a SERS substract, and Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a molecule probe. It is found that the silver micro-substrates have good Raman characteristics. And comparing these SERS spectra, it gets the conclution that the spectra with best SERS enhance effect are obtained when R6G is obsorbed on the silver dendritic micro-substractes whose preparing time is 40s, and at that time, the analytical enhancement factor for SERS signals is approximately 10(3). And when the silicon ships are dealed with surfactants Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and keeping the other conditions the same as before, the SERS enhance effect of the spectra becomes better, and the enhancement factor turn to be approximately 10(4). What's more, the silver microstructures can be preserved several monthes under deionized water and the repeatment of the expriment result is well in general.

[Photoelectric parametric test system of LED based on virtual instrument].

The standardized measuring principle, requirements and implementations of the above parameters of LEDs were researched and analyzed in the present paper. Then a comprehensive test system involved with optics, machinery and computer was designed to accomplish data acquisition, algorithm design and interface design on virtual instrument using NI data acquisition card USB6210. And convincing results of LEDs' parameters, including peak wavelength, width of half-peak wavelength, centroid wavelength, chromaticity coordinates, purity, correlated color temperature and the forward voltage/current, were achieved with good consistency based on the measured spectrum. The system owns simple interface, reliable algorithms and stable results. Respective measurements on five kinds of color of LED result in an average error less than 3%, which show an ideal performance of the system.

[Study on Sr3LiMgV3O12 : Eu3+ single-phase phosphor for white LED].

A novel broadband emission phosphor Sr(3-2x) Li(1+ x) MgV3 O12 : xEu3+ was synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. Then discussed the luminous property under the influence of temperature and doping density of Eu3+, was discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and photoluminescence spectra were used to characterize the feature of Sr(3-2x)Li(1+x)MgV3O12 : xEu3+. The excitation and emission spectra exhibit that the phosphor of Sr(3-2x) Li(1 + x) MgV3O12 : xEu3+ matches with nearly ultraviolet chip. The emission band covers from 450 to 630 nm, which shows that the phosphor is promising single-phase phosphors for white LED.

[Progress in the research on silicon-nitrogen based phosphor for white LED].

With the rapid development of white LED technology, the traditional YAG : Ce3+ phosphor is difficult to meet the requirement due to the low color rendering and high color temperature. Using ultraviolet chip to stimulate the tri-phosphor has become an effective way for white LED, and it is urgent to develop novel tri-phosphor with high-performance, especially for red light-emitting materials. Silicon-nitrogen based compounds contain the network structure composed of SiN4 tetrahedron, with higher chemical and thermal stability. Because of their diversity structures, these phosphors have a higher absorption efficiency in UV-blue region, and also, with the change of substrate and active ion, emission spectrum will cover the entire visible region, resulting in a higher light conversion efficiency and light color stability, coupled with the advantages of being not sensitive to the changes in temperature and drive current, etc. These studies will have a far-reaching impact on the development of white LED. In the present paper, we introduce the preparation and latest progress of silicon-nitrogen based phosphor, including the crystal structure, spectroscopic properties and application characteristics.