Modification of Track-Etched Polyethylene Terephthalate Membranes with Functionalized Silanes for Immobilizing Silver Nanoparticles

The present study is dedicated to obtain hybrid polyethylene terephthalate track membranes. For this purpose, the modification of track-etched membranes was performed with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane using additional cross-linking groups based on hydrated forms of aluminum salts and silver nanoparticles were immobilised. The resulting track membranes were studied using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Zeta-potential of samples’ surface on each modification step was determined. The presence of silver nanoparticles on track membranes surface was confirmed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering using 4-aminothiophenol. The proposed approach allows to create surfaces to concentrate selectively compounds with further detection by surface-enhanced Raman scattering.