Immobilization of Pt Nanoparticles via Rapid and Reusable Electropolymerization of Dopamine on TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays for Reversible SERS Substrates and Nonenzymatic Glucose Sensors

Inspired by mussel-adhesion phenomena in nature, polydopamine (PDA) coatings are a promising route to multifunctional platforms for decorating various materials. The typical self-polymerization process of dopamine is time-consuming and the coatings of PDA are not reusable. Herein, a reusable and time-saving strategy for the electrochemical polymerization of dopamine (EPD) is reported. The PDA layer is deposited on vertically aligned TiO₂ nanotube arrays (NTAs). Owing to the abundant catechol and amine groups in the PDA layer, uniform Pt nanoparticles (NPs) are deposited onto the TiO₂ NTAs and can effectively prevent the recombination of electron–hole pairs generated from photo-electrocatalysis and transfer the captured electrons to participate in the photo-electrocatalytic reaction process. Compared with pristine TiO₂ NTAs, the as-prepared Pt@TiO₂ NTA composites exhibit surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensitivity for detecting rhodamine 6G and display excellent UV-assisted self-cleaning ability, and also show promise as a nonenzymatic glucose biosensor. Furthermore, the mussel-inspired electropolymerization strategy and the fast EPD-reduced nanoparticle decorating process presented herein can be readily extended to various functional substrates, such as conductive glass, metallic oxides, and semiconductors. It is the adaptation of the established PDA system for a selective, robust, and generalizable sensing system that is the emphasis of this work.