Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering from Uniform Gold and Silver Nanoparticle-Coated Substrates

Large-area gold and silver nanoparticles inside periodical silicon microhole arrays were prepared via simple electrodeposition. Such metal nanoparticles within Si microholes showed a strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect, which enabled the detection of rhodamine at 10(-8) M and 10(-9) M on substrates of AuNPs and AgNPs, respectively. The SERS activity of the substrates depended on the metal particle morphology. Microfabrication combined with electrodeposition appears to be a viable approach for preparing reproducible SERS Substrates for sensitive Raman detection.