One-pot fabrication of Mo1-xWxS2 alloy nanosheets as SERS substrates with highly Raman enhancement effect and long-term stability

A new Mo1-xWxS2 two-dimensional nanosheets were prepared by the one-pot method. After certain Mo atoms in MoS2 were replaced by W ones in a hydrothermal reduction procedure, Mo1-xWxS2 was formed on the Mo foil. Well enhanced Mo1-xWxS2 nanosheets were prepared when the sodium tungstate concentration got under control. Various characterizations were carried out, which indicate that Mo1-xWxS2 nanosheets with good crystallinity. Compared with MoS2, the Raman intensity of Rhodamine 6G (10−6 M) was amplified by 1.7 times with Mo1-xWxS2 nanosheets as the substrate. The characteristic Raman peaks could still be clearly distinguished until the concentration of Rhodamine 6G (R6G), Methylene blue (MB) and Crystal violet (CV) down to 10−8, 10−8 and 10−7 M, respectively. With abundant edge active sites that facilitate charge transfer, Mo1-xWxS2 nanosheets could better enhance SERS signals of target detection molecules and get a good linear relationship exists within the concentration and Raman peak strength. In addition, R6G SERS detection also shows excellent reproducibility and long-term stability of this TMDs SERS substrate.