Three-Dimensional Gold Nanosphere Hexamers Linked with Metal Bridges: Near-Field Focusing for Single Particle Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering

Herein, we report the novel strategy for the synthesis of complex 3-dimensional (3D) nanostructures, mimicking the linker molecule-free 3D arrangement of six Au nanospheres at the vertices of octahedrons. We utilized 3D PtAu skeleton for the structural rigidity and deposited Au around the PtAu skeleton in a site-selective manner, allowing us to investigate their surface plasmonic coupling phenomenon and near-field enhancement as a function of sizes of nanospheres, which are directly related to the intrananogap distance and interior volume size. The resulting 3D Au hexamer structures with octahedral arrangement were realized through precise control of the Au growth pattern. The complex 3D Au hexamers were composed of six Au nanospheres connected by thin metal conductive bridges. The standard deviation of the metal conductive bridges and Au nanospheres was within ca. 10%, exhibiting a high degree of homogeneity and precise structural tunability. Interestingly, charge transfer among the six Au nanospheres occurred along the metal conductive bridges leading to surface plasmonic coupling between Au nanospheres. Accordingly, electric near fields were strongly and effectively focused at the vertices, intrananogap regions between Au nanospheres, and interior space, exhibiting well-resolved single-particle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy signals of absorbed analytes.