Abstract
The combined characteristics of non-wettabililty and strong plasmonic resonances make superhydrophobic plasmonic nanostructures an appealing tool for ultrasensitive detection in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). However, inducing superhydrophobic surfaces on originally hydrophilic metals (e.g., gold, silver) while achieving high plasmonic enhancement requires sophisticated surface engineering and often involves complex fabrication processes. In this article, we design and fabricate cost effective and scalable plasmonic nanostructures with both superhydrophobicity (a water contact angle >160°) and high SERS signal (enhancement factor ≈106). Silver-coated aluminum hydroxide nanotemplates are obtained from a simple wet process, followed by thermal evaporation of silver nanoparticles. We find that the largest SERS enhancement is obtained when the contact angle is maximum. This confirms that the control of surface wettability is an effective way to improve detection sensitivity in SERS measurements. The nanotemplates developed in this study could be applied further in various applications, including microfluidic biomolecular optical sensors, photocatalysts, and optoelectronic devices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 17125-17130 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nanoscale |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 36 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 Sept 28 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We acknowledge support by Mid-career Researcher Program (No. 2017R1A2B2008419), the Nano-Material Fundamental Technology Development Program (No. 2014M3A7B4052202) and the Basic Research Program (No. 2016R1A4A1012950) through a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP). D. Lee also acknowledges support by the Korea University Future Research Grant.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Materials Science