Silver substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering: Correlation between nanostructure and Raman scattering enhancement

The fabrication of substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) applications matching the needs for high sensitive and reproducible sensors remains a major scientific and technological issue. We correlate the morphological parameters of silver (Ag) nanostructured thin films prepared by sp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Santoro, Gonzalo, Yu, S., Schwartzkopf, M., Zhang, P., Koyiloth Vayalil, S., Risch, J.F.H., Rübhausen, M.A., Hernández, Margarita, Domingo, Concepción, Roth, S.V.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/110705
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/110705
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Raman scattering
Surface enhanced
Silver
Nanofabrication
Thin film growth
Sputter deposition
Descripción
Sumario:The fabrication of substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) applications matching the needs for high sensitive and reproducible sensors remains a major scientific and technological issue. We correlate the morphological parameters of silver (Ag) nanostructured thin films prepared by sputter deposition on flat silicon (Si) substrates with their SERS activity. A maximum enhancement of the SERS signal has been found at the Ag percolation threshold, leading to the detection of thiophenol, a non-resonant Raman probe, at concentrations as low as 10-10M, which corresponds to enhancement factors higher than 7 orders of magnitude. To gain full control over the developed nanostructure, we employed the combination of in-situ time-resolved microfocus Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering with sputter deposition. This enables to achieve a deepened understanding of the different growth regimes of Ag. Thereby an improved tailoring of the thin film nanostructure for SERS applications can be realized. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.