Template-Confined Dewetting Process to Surface Nanopatterns: Fabrication, Structural Tunability, and Structure-Related Properties

Metallic surface nanopatterns are prepared by a template-confined dewetting process with multiple structural controllabilities. The morphology of the building blocks is homogeneous throughout the surface nanopatterns, as the dewetting process proceeds separately in each bowl. The features of the building units in the surface patterns are highly dependent on the annealing temperature. Importantly, the size and composition of the nanoparticles in the surface nanopatterns can be pre-calculated and designed by manipulating the thickness of the evaporated metallic films. The heating temperature and composition of the building units influence the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and plasmonic properties, thus tuning the localized surface plasmon resonance peaks over a broad range (from visible to near infrared). The introduction of silver in the gold surface nanopatterns enhances the SERS performance dramatically. This work not only provides a powerful route to fabricate surface nanopatterns, but also supplies a platform to study the mechanism of the complicated dewetting processes of metals.