Room temperature self-assembled Ag nanoparticles/Mo-37.5% Ag film as efficient flexible SERS substrate

Abstract

Mo-Ag films with different thicknesses were deposited on flexible polyimide (PI) substrate by DC magnetron sputtering. The phase, surface morphology, composition and thickness of the Mo-Ag films were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDS and TEM, respectively. The most outstanding result indicates that many monodisperse single crystal Ag nanoparticles are spontaneously formed on the surface of the deposited Mo-Ag films at room temperature. The Ag nanoparticles/Mo-37.5% Ag film has rich active “hot spots”, which can be used as an effective surface-enhanced Raman scatting (SERS) substrate by covering a thin layer of silver on the surface, and the detection limit of Rhodamine 6G solution can reach 10-12 mol/L. The Ag nanoparticles/Mo-Ag films prepared at room temperature provided a new idea for the preparation of novel particle films and high-sensitivity flexible SERS substrates.