Au-ZnO hybrid nanoparticles exhibiting strong charge-transfer-induced SERS for recyclable SERS-active substrates

Flower-shaped Au-ZnO hybrid nanoparticles have been prepared via seeding growth and subsequent wet-chemical etching of Au-ZnO core-shell nanoparticles. The etched Au-ZnO hybrid nanoparticles have shown a stronger surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal of the nontotally symmetric (b(2)) vibrational modes of PATP molecules than Au nanoparticles alone, which is attributed to the chemical enhancement effect of the ZnO layer which is greatly excited by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au cores. Further, the mechanism of the LSPR-enhanced charge transfer (CT) effect has been proved by the SERS spectra of PATP molecules excited using different laser sources from 325 to 785 nm. Moreover, the photocatalytic experimental results indicated that Au-ZnO hybrid nanoparticles are promising as biologically compatible and recyclable SERS-active platforms for different molecular species.