Fabrication of gold nanoparticles/graphene oxide films with surface-enhanced Raman scattering activity by a simple electrostatic self-assembly method

The paper reports a simple electrostatic self-assembly method to fabricate the gold nanoparticles/graphene oxide (Au NPs@GO) films which present superior SERS activity. The Au NPs@GO films with different layers construction and surface compositions (with Au NPs or GO as the outer layer) are obtained simply by changing the self-assembly cycles. Results indicate that the film with two assembly cycles (F-2 film) exhibits the best SERS activity towards R6G molecules compared with that of one assembly cycle (F-1 film) and three assembly cycles (F-3 film) due to the high loadings of the absorbed Au NPs exposed on the surface of the film. Meanwhile, the Raman enhancement effect of the F-2 film with the outer layer of Au NPs is better than that of the outer layer covering with GO sheets (F-2-GO) possibly owing to the optimal synergetic effect of Au NPs and GO. Furthermore, our fabricated Au NPs@GO films present favorable reproducibility and high stability, which are significant for the practical application of these SERS substrates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.