Résumé
Silver nanoparticle arrays were assembled on the surface of polycarbonate track etch membranes using 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane as the chemical linker. The assembled arrays were submonolayer and reproducibly
regular. The nanoparticle-modified membranes were characterized in terms of their hydraulic
and optical properties and were evaluated as flow-through surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)
sensors for water quality monitoring. The membrane-supported nanoparticle arrays were found to be SERSactive
with slightly lower but significantly more reproducible enhancements in comparison with enhancements
afforded by source nanoparticle suspensions. Large enhancements of up to 105 were demonstrated
due to preconcentration by recirculating analyte solution through nanoparticle-modified membranes
that were shown to retain their hydraulic properties. The findings point to the promise of combining high
specification SERS-active systems and the flow-through design for the development of analytical sensors
for the trace detection of aqueous pollutants.