An ultrasensitive, uniform and large-area surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate based on Ag or Ag/Au nanoparticles decorated Si nanocone arrays

摘要

Large-area and highly ordered Si nanocone arrays decorated with Ag or Au/Ag nanoparticles have been fabricated via a mask-free lithography with reaction ion etching, followed by metal deposition process. Ultrasensitive surface enhanced Raman scattering signals with an enhancement factor of 10~(12) were achieved even at the concentration of the Rhodamine 6G as low as 10~(-15) M. The surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate was also applied on the detection of Sudan I dye and the Raman signals were substantially enhanced as well. The stability of the SERS substrate can be significantly improved by covering Ag nanoparticles with Au thin layer, which maintain a high SERS performance even after one month storage. This nanofabrication process appears to be a feasible approach to prepare uniform and reproducible SERS-active substrates with high sensitivity and stability for practical SERS applications.