Surface enhanced Raman scattering activity of TiN thin film prepared via nitridation of sol-gel derived TiO2 film

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful and non-destructive analytical technique tool for chemical and biological sensing applications. Metal-free SERS substrates have recently been developed by using semiconductor nanostructures. The optical property of TiN film is similar to that of gold. Besides that, its good chemical inertness and thermodynamic stability make TiN thin film an excellent candidate for SERS. In order to investigate its SERS activity, the TiN thin film was successfully prepared via direct nitridation of the sol-gel derived TiO 2 thin film on the quartz substrate using ammonia gas as reducing agent. The crystallite structures and morphology of TiN thin film were determined by XRD, RAMAN and FE-SEM. The results show that the thin film obtained is cubic titanium nitride with a lattice parameter of 4.2349 A. The surface of TiN thin film is rough and with the particles of 50 nm in average sizes. The thickness of TiN thin film is about 130 nm. The TiN thin film displays a surface Plasmon resonance absorption peak at around 476 nm, which can lead to a strong enhancement of the EM field on the interface. The Raman signal of the probe molecule R6G was greatly enhanced through TiN thin film substrates. The enhancement factor is about 4.1×10 3 and the detection limit achieves 10 -6 M for R6G. The TiN thin film substrate also shows a good reproducibility of SERS performance. The results indicate that TiN thin film is an attractive material with potential application in SERS substrates.