Surface enhanced Raman scattering investigation of two novel piperazine carbodithioic acids adsorbed on Ag and ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract

In this work piperazine-1-carbodithioic acid (PZCDT) and piperazine-1,4-dicarbodithioic acid (PZbCDT) were synthesized. These analytes PZCDT and PZbCDT have chair conformations, which is expected to give specific surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects on individual bands. SERS, UV-Visible, TEM and DFT methods have proved that the dithiocarbamate moiety is a potential and suitable functional group for silver and ZnO nanoparticles (AgNPs and ZnONPs). The enhancement mechanism and enhancement factors in both SERS@AgNPs and SERS@ZnONPs are also discussed. Two new strong bands appear at 1630, 1286 cm⁻¹ with very large intensity in SERS@AgNPs, which signifies the conversion of the C–N bond of the dithiocarbamate moiety into CN bonds. The SERS signatures that are observed are quite different in SERS@AgNPs and SERS@ZnONPs.