Noble metal nanoparticles on biotemplated nanowires

Gold and gold-silver nanoparticles were synthesized on silica nanowire supports biotemplated from cellulose nanocrystals. In a first step, the cellulose nanocrystals were coated via a sol-gel method with a thin SiO2 layer, which was chemically functionalized with aminopropyl triethoxysilane in a second step. On this activated surface, gold nanoparticles could be attached and additional layers of gold and silver could be deposited on these seeds. The optical properties and prospective applications as substrate for surface- enhanced Raman scattering were investigated by UV-VIS and Raman spectroscopy.