A Dual-Functional Flexible Oxided Carbon Cloth (OCC)/MoS₂ Substrate for In-Situ SERS Detection and On-Site Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Contaminants in Aquatic Ecosystems

The flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates show great potential application in environmental, biological, and technological sensors. However, preparing sensitive, reusable non-noble metal flexible SERS substrates remains a challenge. As a substitute for noble metal SERS substrate, two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide is widely used in SERS research due to its advantages of simple synthesis and excellent optical properties, but the enhancement effect is lower than that of noble metal substrates. Herein, we report a chemical vapor deposition strategy to develop a simple and efficient carbon oxide cloth (OCC)/MoS ₂ flexible SERS substrate with acid-treated OCC as the deposition substrate, capable of detecting Rhodamine 6G concentrations as low as 1.0×10 ^− 12 M. By combining experimental analysis and density functional theory calculations, we found that the charge transfer between acid-treated carbon cloth and adsorbed molecules is enhanced because of its abundant oxygen-containing functional groups. More significantly, the flexible OCC/MoS₂ substrate enables the in-situ detection and efficient on-site photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminant residues on fish surfaces and in aquatic environments through simple swabbing or immersion sampling. Moreover, the flexible matrix exhibits excellent recyclability in both practical detection and photocatalysis applications.