Surface enhanced Raman scattering of nano diamond using visible-light-activated TiO2 as a catalyst to photo-reduce nano-structured silver from AgNO3 as SERS-active substrate

In this work, we demonstrate nano-structured silver particles photo-reduced from silver nitride (AgNO3) solution using visible-light-activated titanium dioxide (TiO2), which can be a convenient and effective substrate for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) observation. Visible-light-activated carbon-containing TiO2 nanoparticles are applied to photo-reduce and form nano-structured silver from AgNO3 upon visible-light illumination. Photo-reduced nano-structured silver is used as an active substrate for SERS studies of TiO2 as well as nano diamond and TiO2. The photo reduction of AgNO3 and SERS observation can be obtained by simultaneously using the same visible laser excitation. The coexistence of the anatase phase with small admixture of the rutile phase in the TiO2 can be observed using SERS. The carbon structure in the carbon-containing TiO2 was determined to be sp(2) type carbon bonding by SERS. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.