Journal
MICROCHIMICA ACTA
Volume 179, Issue 3-4, Pages 315-321Publisher
SPRINGER WIEN
DOI: 10.1007/s00604-012-0898-y
Keywords
ZnO/Ag nanotubes array; Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS); 4-mercaptopyridine (4-MPY); Surface plasmon coupling
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Funding
- Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China [61008051, 61178074]
- Program for the development of Science and Technology of Jilin province [20110415, 201105084, 20100113]
- National Laboratory of Superhard Materials [201004]
- University of New South Wales [SIR50/PS26746]
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We report on the fabrication of a highly aligned silver-decorated array of zinc oxide nanotubes for use in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The ZnO nanotube array was first prepared by chemical etching, and the silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were then deposited on their surface by magnetron sputtering. Such ZnO/Ag hybrid structures are shown to act as SERS-active substrates with remarkable sensitivity. The enhancement factor can be as high as 10(5) when using 4-mercaptopyridine in solution as a SERS probe. The synergistic combination between SERS hot spots and the formation of an interfacial electric field between the zinc oxide nanotubes and the AgNPs in our opinion contribute to the high sensitivity. The relative standard deviations of signal intensities for the major SERS peaks are < 7 %. This demonstrates that the optimized ZnO/Ag hybrid represents an excellent SERS substrate that may be used in trace analysis and ultrasensitive molecular sensing.
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