Self-assembly of Ag nanoparticles on the woven cotton fabrics as mechanical flexible substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering

Flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates were fabricated based on the natural woven cotton fabrics by a simple self-assembly method in which silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were deposited on the fabric. The SERS signal can be controlled by changing the assemble cycle times, leading to different decorated Ag amount on the surface of woven cotton fabrics. SERS woven cotton fabrics displayed excellent reproducibility and SERS sensitivity with a detection limit of p-Aminothiophenol (PATP) at 10−7 M. Moreover, the SERS woven cotton fabrics exhibited remarkable flexibility and practicality, allowing for a close contact the samples surface by swabbing. The approach could be readily extended to other fabrics, such as wool fabrics and other natural fiber fabrics, paving on a new way for the low-cost, portable and flexible SERS substrates. •Low-cost SERS cotton fabrics were prepared by simple self-assemble method.•The SERS signal can be controlled by changing the assemble cycle times.•SERS cotton fabrics displayed excellent sensitivity with a low detection limit.•SERS cotton fabrics possessed good flexibility as a swabbing sample.