Interface synthesis of gold mesocrystals with highly roughened surfaces for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Local electromagnetic enhancement excited from collective oscillations of free electrons on a highly roughened mental surface can induce greatly enhanced Raman scattering. Herein gold mesoparticles with various morphologies and highly roughened surfaces, including sea urchin-like, flower-like, starlike, meatball-like, and dendritic nanostructures are prepared using pentanol/water interface as a growth bed. The morphologies of the prepared gold mesoparticles are well controlled by varying the concentrations of additives such as gold ions, ascorbic acid (AA) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Due to the unique structures such as rough surface, high internal porosity as well as complex morphology, these as-prepared mesocrystals exhibit a remarkable performance in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) compared with polyhedral mesoparticles.