The development of chemical sensors with selectivity and sensitivity to detect contaminants is challenging, especially in the presence of interferents possessing similar molecular structures. Electrochemical (EC) and Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) sensors are widely used, albeit with their disadvantages. However, integration of the two methods into a single platform can potentially overcome their disadvantages. Until now, the majority of the research has focused on EC-supported SERS detection, thereby not exploiting the entire capabilities of EC-SERS. Laser-induced graphene (LIG) technology, a cost-effective and one-step method to produce graphene electrodes, is widely implemented for EC sensors but to a very low extent for SERS. Herein, we aim to perform a comprehensive study on the synergy of EC-SERS methods by developing a dual-sensor platform for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) detection on LIG embedded with electrodeposited plasmonic silver nanostructures. EC roughening and electrode polarization led to a significant amplification of the SERS response. The selectivity issues with EC methods were overcome through sequential SERS-EC-SERS measurements making it possible to detect 4-NP in solutions containing similar molecules, which was a critical issue reported before. Both methods demonstrated a good capability to detect and quantify 4-NP, exhibiting distinct response modalities. This research establishes a practical approach for leveraging EC and SERS synergy to achieve high analytical performance in detecting molecules with high selectivity in complex chemical environments.
Adiraju et al. (2026) studied this question.