Thermally annealed Ag nanoparticles on anodized aluminium oxide for SERS sensing

abstract

• In this paper we report a study of novel thermally stable surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates consisting of Ag nanoparticles immobilized on an anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) support. The morphological and chemical characteristics and the SERS activity of the Ag nanoparticles before and after the thermal treatment were evaluated using SEM, XPS, UV-vis and Raman spectroscopy. Our results show that the nanoporous surface of AAO significantly hinders the fusion of Ag nanoparticles to single large particles at up to 400 C, preserving high SERS enhancement. XPS and SERS results indicate that exposure to high temperatures efficiently 'cleanses' the surface from citrate remnants, opening more binding sites for analytes on Ag nanoparticles. In addition, thermal decomposition of silver oxide occurs at 400 C, ensuring a pure metallic surface and further enhancing SERS activity. The Royal Society of Chemistry.

authors

• Sukhishvili, Svetlana

published proceedings

• RSC ADVANCES

author list (cited authors)

• Pinkhasova, P., Chen, H., Verhoeven, M., Sukhishvili, S., & Du, H.

citation count

• 35

complete list of authors

• Pinkhasova, Polina||Chen, Hui||Verhoeven, MWGM Tiny||Sukhishvili, Svetlana||Du, Henry

publication date

• October 2013

publisher

• Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)  Publisher

published in

• RSC Advances  Journal

keywords

• 34 Chemical Sciences
• Bioengineering
• Nanotechnology

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1039/c3ra43808b

start page

• 17954

end page

• 17961

volume

• 3

issue

• 39

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c3ra43808b