Scalable synthesis of heterostructure of Fe2O3–Au nanomaterials for application in biological detection

Abstract

In terms of developing high-performing, multifunctional hetero-nanostructures, an exact control of the growth dynamics at the interface of metal nanoparticles (NPs) and metal oxides is of great significance. Having this in mind, we reported a facile and efficient approach to anchor and control the growth process of Au NPs on the surface of iron oxide, and to synthesis α–Fe2O3–Au heterogeneous structure. The nanocomposite exhibits its outstanding multifunctional performance, the energy absorption rate and energy transfer efficiency of α–Fe2O3–Au heterogeneous structure is obviously more than that of α–Fe2O3 materials. FDTD simulation results also show that α–Fe2O3–Au heterogeneous structure have excellent absorption light property and surface Raman effect compared to the single materials, and exhibit enhanced analysis enhancement factor (to 5 × 104) with R6G molecule probe in SERS measurement. Furthermore, for the electrocatalytic activity of H2O2, the sensitivity and detection limit is 42.265 μA mM−1 cm−2 and 1.166 μM, respectively. This work provides an innovative synthetic route for new heterogeneously structured nanocomposites.