Two-thiols-regulated fabrication of plasmonic nanoparticles with co-enhanced Raman scattering and circular dichroism responses

Plasmonic nanoparticles (PNPs) with stable nanogaps are important to achieve strong, uniform and quantitative gap-enhanced Raman scattering (GERS) signals. Chiral PNPs with plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) responses have been discovered to be suitable for applications in enantiomeric recognition, cancer therapy and activation of immune system. Herein, two-thiols-modulated growth was demonstrated to result in the acquisition of PNPs with synergistically enhanced GERS and PCD signals. 4-Aminothiophenol (4-ATP) and cysteine (Cys) played the role of Raman reporter and chiral stimulus, respectively. At a fixed 4-ATP concentration, the GERS signal of PNPs was significantly enhanced with the increase of the concentration of Cys. Simultaneously, at a fixed concentration of Cys, an increase in PCD response was observed by elevating the concentration of 4-ATP. Both aforementioned molecules acted as morphology controllers, leading to the formation of helical shell. It is suggested that the giant GERS and PCD response were contributed by the ''hot spots'' within the PNPs and more perfect helical shells. Our research pointed out a novel synthetic guideline to obtain PNPs with multiple functionalities by incorporating multi-ligands into the growth stages.

Automated summary

A synthetic guideline to obtain PNPs with synergistically enhanced GERS and PCD signals through two-thiols-modulated growth has been demonstrated. These PNPs have potential applications in enantiomeric recognition, cancer therapy, and activation of the immune system.