Two-dimensional MBenes with ordered metal vacancies for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Abstract

As an emerging class of two-dimensional (2D) materials, MBenes show enormous potential for optoelectronic applications. However, their use in molecular sensing as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active material is unknown. Herein, for the first time, we develop a brand-new high-performance MBene SERS platform. Ordered vacancy-triggered highly sensitive SERS platform with outstanding signal uniformity based on a 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene material was designed. The 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene presented superior SERS activity to most of the semiconductor SERS substrates, showing a remarkable Raman enhancement factor of 3.88 × 10⁶ and an ultralow detection limit of 1 × 10⁻⁹ M. The underlying SERS mechanism is revealed from systematic experiments and density functional theory calculations that the ultrahigh SERS sensitivity of 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene is derived from the efficient photoinduced charge transfer process between MBene substrates and adsorbed molecules. The abundant electronic density of states near the Fermi level of 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene enables its Raman enhancement by a factor of 100 000 times higher than that of the bulk MoB. Consequently, the 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene could accurately detect various trace chemical analytes. Moreover, with ordered metal vacancies in the 2D Mo_4/3B₂ MBene, uniform charge transfer sites are formed, resulting in an outstanding signal uniformity with a relative standard deviation down to 6.0%. This work opens up a new horizon for the high-performance SERS platform based on MBene materials, which holds great promise in the field of chemical sensing.