Abstract
Boat-like Au nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized within the mesoporous γ-Al2O3 films. First, mesoporous γ-Al2O3 film was prepared using aluminum alkoxide derived boehmite sol in the presence of CTAB as structure directing agent. The film was heat-treated at 500 °C to obtain γ-Al2O3 film with an average pore diameter of 4.3 nm. HAuCl4 solution was then soaked into the porous film followed by heat-treatment at 500 °C to generate Au NPs. The blue-colored films so obtained were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, FESEM, and TEM studies. FESEM and TEM studies reveal the formation boat-like Au NPs in γ-Al2O3 film matrix. Cross-sectional FESEM shows the thickness of the films to be ~2.2 μm. These nanocomposite films were used as a unique surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for easy detection of low concentration (10−8 M) analyte (methylene blue) molecule. Boat-like shape of Au NPs have several edges and junctions that contain high density of hotspots to exhibit very high SERS signals. Due to such shape of Au NPs, the films also show strong absorption in the visible-NIR region that would extend the use of the films in heat-absorbing and biomedical applications.
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