Preparation of large-area controllable patterned silver nanocrystals for high sensitive and stable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

A novel and facile method for fabricating large-area patterned silver nanocrystals was introduced and the investigation on the high sensitive and stable surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy(SERS) of the nanocrystals was carried out. Nanostructured silicon substrate was processed by laser interference and used as a template for growing silver nanocrystals via galvanic battery reaction method. The substrate with large area for violent chemical reaction was tailored into a nanocell array. The limited reaction area hindered the growth of silver nanocrystals and made their size uniform and controllable. The size and gaps of the nanocrystals could be controlled by template period and ratio, which were easily reproduced by laser interference. Taking 10–8 to 10–11 mol/L Rh6G for example, the optimized silver arrays exhibited great potential for ultrasensitive molecular sensing in terms of its high SERS enhancement ability, favorable stability, and excellent reproducibility.