HHS Public Access Author manuscript Author Manuscript
Nanotechnology. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 August 12. Published in final edited form as: Nanotechnology. 2016 August 12; 27(32): 325303. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/27/32/325303.
Fabrication of Hexagonally Patterned Flower-like Silver Particle Arrays As Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates Haibin Tang1, Peng Zheng3, Guowen Meng1,2,*, Zhongbo Li1, Chuhong Zhu1, Fangming Han1, Yan Ke1, Zhaoming Wang1, Fei Zhou1, and Nianqiang Wu3,* 1Key
Author Manuscript
Laboratory of Materials Physics, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, and Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, P. R. China. 2University
of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China.
3Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6106, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
Abstract
Author Manuscript
Hierarchical assembly of plasmonic nanostructures can induce high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. However, it is a challenge to uniformly disperse the hierarchical nanostructures onto a planar substrate to achieve the SERS signal reproducibility. This report presents a facile route to fabricate a hexagonally patterned flower-like silver particle array as the SERS substrate. First, the hexagonally ordered silver hemisphere arrays with smooth surface are molded in the pores of an anodic aluminum oxide template. The Ag-nanosheets are then electrodeposited onto the surface of individual silver hemispheres. The numerous nano-edges and nano-gaps between adjacent nanosheets render a large number of hot spots, leading to high SERS activity over a larger area of chip. The silver flower-like array is employed as the SERS substrate, which is able to detect 0.1 nM rhodamine 6G and 1 µM 3,3’,4,4’-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB-77, a persistent organic pollutant).
Keywords surface-enhanced Raman scattering; nano-array; silver; pesticide; persistent organic pollutant
Author Manuscript
1. Introduction Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is finding increasing applications in chemical, biological and environmental fields.[1–2] To amplify SERS signal, great efforts have been made to fabricate plasmonic metal nanostructures for electromagnetic (EM) field enhancement. The EM enhancement effect is highly dependent on the size, shape and surface topography of the plasmonic metal particles (even only a few of atomic layers on the surface can induce a large change in the surface plasmon mode).[3–6] Various free-standing
*
[email protected] (G. Meng), [email protected] (N. Wu). Supporting information. The supporting information material is available free of charge via the Internet at
Tang et al.
Page 2
Author Manuscript Author Manuscript
plasmonic metal particles such as sea urchin-like Au meso-crystals,[3–4, 7] meatball-like Au particles and star-like Au nanoparticles have been synthesized.[8–10] In particular, the flower-like Au and Ag mesoparticles, which have numerous sharp nano-edges and narrow gaps (even
Nanotechnology. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2017 August 12. Published in final edited form as: Nanotechnology. 2016 August 12; 27(32): 325303. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/27/32/325303.
Fabrication of Hexagonally Patterned Flower-like Silver Particle Arrays As Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates Haibin Tang1, Peng Zheng3, Guowen Meng1,2,*, Zhongbo Li1, Chuhong Zhu1, Fangming Han1, Yan Ke1, Zhaoming Wang1, Fei Zhou1, and Nianqiang Wu3,* 1Key
Author Manuscript
Laboratory of Materials Physics, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, and Anhui Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, P. R. China. 2University
of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China.
3Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6106, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA.
Abstract
Author Manuscript
Hierarchical assembly of plasmonic nanostructures can induce high surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. However, it is a challenge to uniformly disperse the hierarchical nanostructures onto a planar substrate to achieve the SERS signal reproducibility. This report presents a facile route to fabricate a hexagonally patterned flower-like silver particle array as the SERS substrate. First, the hexagonally ordered silver hemisphere arrays with smooth surface are molded in the pores of an anodic aluminum oxide template. The Ag-nanosheets are then electrodeposited onto the surface of individual silver hemispheres. The numerous nano-edges and nano-gaps between adjacent nanosheets render a large number of hot spots, leading to high SERS activity over a larger area of chip. The silver flower-like array is employed as the SERS substrate, which is able to detect 0.1 nM rhodamine 6G and 1 µM 3,3’,4,4’-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB-77, a persistent organic pollutant).
Keywords surface-enhanced Raman scattering; nano-array; silver; pesticide; persistent organic pollutant
Author Manuscript
1. Introduction Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is finding increasing applications in chemical, biological and environmental fields.[1–2] To amplify SERS signal, great efforts have been made to fabricate plasmonic metal nanostructures for electromagnetic (EM) field enhancement. The EM enhancement effect is highly dependent on the size, shape and surface topography of the plasmonic metal particles (even only a few of atomic layers on the surface can induce a large change in the surface plasmon mode).[3–6] Various free-standing
*
[email protected] (G. Meng), [email protected] (N. Wu). Supporting information. The supporting information material is available free of charge via the Internet at
Tang et al.
Page 2
Author Manuscript Author Manuscript
plasmonic metal particles such as sea urchin-like Au meso-crystals,[3–4, 7] meatball-like Au particles and star-like Au nanoparticles have been synthesized.[8–10] In particular, the flower-like Au and Ag mesoparticles, which have numerous sharp nano-edges and narrow gaps (even
