Preparation of superhydrophobic 3D silver nanotree SERS substrates for the detection of azithromycin

A superhydrophobic 3D silver nanotree surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy （SERS） substrate was synthesized, and characterized by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy dispersive spectrometer （EDS） and X-ray powder diffraction （XRD）. Its hydrophobic properties were analyzed by contact angle （CA）. Rhodamine B （RB） was used as Raman probe to optimize the conditions. The SERS properties of azithromycin （AZM） on this substrate were investigated, showing that the SERS substrate had a high Raman enhancement effect on AZM. The ISERS presented a good linear relationship with the logarithm concentration of AZM as ISERS= 4098logc+47769（R2=0.987） in the range of 1.0×10-11-1.0×10-9mol/L, and the detection limit was 4 pmol/L. This method was used to analyze AZM content in AZM dispersible tablets, human serum and porcine serum, with the spiked recoveries in the range of 91.2%-118.1% and relative standard deviations of 1.1%-6.2%. © 2023 the authors.