Synthesis and characterisation of dual plasmonic gold nanostars as high-performance surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate

Author(s): Vijay Raghavan ; Hai Ming Fan ; Eoin K. McCarthy ; Peter Dockery ; Antony Wheatley ; Ivan Keogh ; Malini Olivo
DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2016.0095

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Author(s): Vijay Raghavan ¹ ; Hai Ming Fan ² ; Eoin K. McCarthy ³ ; Peter Dockery ⁴ ; Antony Wheatley ⁵ ; Ivan Keogh ⁶ ; Malini Olivo ^{1, 7, 8}
- Affiliations: 1: School of Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland ;
  2: School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China ;
  3: Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland ;
  4: Anatomy, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland ;
  5: Physiology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland ;
  6: Department of Surgery, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland ;
  7: Bio-optical Imaging Group, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore ;
  8: Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), Dublin, Ireland
Source: Volume 11, Issue 11, November 2016, p. 769 – 774
DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2016.0095 , Online ISSN 1750-0443

Synthesising gold nanoprobes in the near infrared (NIR) region is of particular interest in developing nanosensors due to the minimal light attenuation from biomolecules. Here, the controlled synthesis and tunability of gold nanostars’ two distinct localised surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) at around 700 and 1100 nm is reported. By using UV–Vis–NIR absorption measurements and finite-difference time-domain calculations, the induction of the LSPR and the multipolar nature of the resonances have been investigated experimentally and theoretically. Simulation results demonstrate that large electric fields are confined at the tips of the branches, where the LSPR can be induced specifically by controlling the polarisation of the incident electric field. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) capability of these dual plasmonic gold nanostars (DPGNS) has also been demonstrated using a Raman reporter, diethylthiatricarbocyanine iodide and high SERS enhancement factor (EF) of 2 × 10⁷ is obtained with 785 nm excitation. With ease of synthesis, LSPR at NIR and high SERS EF, DPGNS demonstrated the capability to be an effective SERS substrate and the potential to elicit the highest SERS EF ever reported for gold nanoparticles, with further longer wavelength excitations at and beyond 1064 nm.

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Synthesis and characterisation of dual plasmonic gold nanostars as high-performance surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate

Synthesis and characterisation of dual plasmonic gold nanostars as high-performance surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrate

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