Atmospheric oxidation and carbon contamination of silver and its effect on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)

Matikainen, Antti; Nuutinen, Tarmo; Itkonen, Tommi; Heinilehto, Santtu; Puustinen, Jarkko; Hiltunen, Jussi; Lappalainen, Jyrki; Karioja, Pentti; Vahimaa, Pasi

doi:10.1038/srep37192

Cited by 107 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…Contrary, gold‐covered silver nanoparticles showed lower sensitivity, except for the cases of relatively big, ∼50 nm, colloidal silver nanoparticles chemically covered with gold layer, and pin‐holes behaved as hot‐spots providing additional enhancement of Raman signal . However, silver nanoparticles suffer from high chemical reactivity which can result in their degradation due to the reactions with atmospheric species . This high reactivity can also cause destruction of biological objects under analysis .…”

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confidence: 99%

Self‐Assembled Silver–Gold Nanoisland Films on Glass for SERS Applications

Babich

Redkov

Reduto

et al. 2017

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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We present a study of resonant optical properties of gold-protected silver nanoisland films. Silver nanoislands were grown on a glass substrate using out-diffusion technique, the growth was followed by the deposition of nanometer-thick gold coatings. Scanning electron microscopy and optical spectroscopy were used to characterize morphology and extinction spectra of the grown combined silver-gold nanostructures. Micro Raman spectroscopy of the combined nanoislands has demonstrated their signal enhancement factor exceeding that one of the initial silver nanoislands.Nowadays Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is in a wide use because of its high sensitivity which allows molecular fingerprinting of chemical and biological species. [1,2] The high sensitivity at Raman exciting wavelength close to Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) wavelength of plasmonic structures provides SERS applicability in various analytical and sensing devices for both commercial and laboratory needs. Commercial SERS substrates widely use metal nanoparticles deposited on glass slides, and numerous efforts were made to improve Raman signal enhancement by metal nanoparticles via varying their shape, composition and structure. By now, among other metals silver has demonstrated the highest Raman enhancement factor. [1] This has stimulated the design of core-shell nanostructures, silver being the shell material, in particular silvercovered gold nanostructures, [3][4][5][6] in which a silver layer allowed increasing Raman sensitivity of the systems. Contrary, goldcovered silver nanoparticles showed lower sensitivity, [4] except for the cases of relatively big, $50 nm, colloidal silver nanoparticles chemically covered with gold layer, and pin-holes behaved as hot-spots providing additional enhancement of Raman signal. [7] However, silver nanoparticles suffer from high chemical reactivity which can result in their degradation due to the reactions with atmospheric species. [8,9] This high reactivity can also cause destruction of biological objects under analysis. [10][11][12] The latter is also evidenced by registered toxicity of silver nanoparticles. [13] That is why efforts aimed to protect silver nanostructures via depositing chemically inert layers, in spite of resulted decrease in Raman enhancement, were performed. [14,15] We have recently demonstrated [16] out-diffused self-assembled silver nanoisland films capable of exploitation in SERS. In the present study, we show that deposition of a thin, a few nanometers, gold coating results in the formation of bimetallic core-shell nanostructures. Dependence of the SPR spectral positions on the thickness of the gold coating provides tuning the SPR to specific wavelengths, which allows increasing SERS signal. These results obtained for ultra-thin gold films differ from the data obtained for chemically synthesized gold-covered silver nanoparticles with quite thick gold coatings. In the latter case, plasmonic properties of the nanoparticles are mainly defined by gold shells or by essential mixing of go...

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confidence: 99%

Self‐Assembled Silver–Gold Nanoisland Films on Glass for SERS Applications

Babich

Redkov

Reduto

et al. 2017

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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“…To investigate the resistance of ZIF‐8‐coated Ag‐NOF structures to oxidation and sulfidation, we intentionally exposed the Ag‐NOF platforms to various harsh environmental conditions that would commonly result in significant changes in the plasmonic properties of Ag . We prepared bare Ag‐NOF samples and acquired the SERS signals of BCB immediately after the preparation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering the kinetic diameters of oxygen (0.345 nm) and hydrogen sulfur gas (0.360 nm), ZIF‐8 can prevent the interaction of gas molecules with the Ag nanostructures . When the bare Ag‐NOF platforms are exposed to oxygen and sulfur species, these species can easily diffuse to the surface of Ag nanostructures and induce corrosion . This phenomenon consequently leads to a decrease in the SERS enhancement of Ag‐NOF platforms.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among these metals, the use of Ag is advantageous in the development of SERS‐active platforms because of its high interband transition frequency, which enables the production of surface plasmon resonance in the entire visible range, and the large dielectric constant, which can produce strong SERS enhancement . Despite these advantages, SERS‐active Ag structures often suffer from corrosion by oxygen and sulfur in the ambient atmosphere, limiting the practical use of Ag platforms . The corrosion of Ag nanostructures induces a drastic change in or disappearance of the surface plasmon resonance properties originating from free electrons at the Ag surface .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Metal–Organic Framework Coating for the Preservation of Silver Nanowire Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering Platform

Kim

Jang

Moon

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Inter

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Ag nanostructures are investigated as efficient plasmonic platforms because of their superior optical properties. However, the easy corrosion of Ag surfaces by reaction with oxygen or sulfur in the atmosphere can seriously affect the optical properties of Ag nanostructures, limiting the stable operation of Ag platforms. Herein, it is reported that a metal-organic framework (MOF) enables an Ag nanowire (NW) surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform to be corrosion resistant. A single Ag NW on a film (Ag-NOF), an effective SERS-active platform, is coated with the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8, and then the corrosion resistance of the Ag-NOF structures is examined under a variety of harsh environmental conditions. Interestingly, the MOF-coated Ag-NOF platforms are found to provide excellent oxidation and sulfidation resistance. With the MOF coating, the SERS signals of the Ag-NOF structures are well maintained under harsh conditions, while the signals are reduced without MOF coating. More importantly, it is clearly verified that the MOF coating preserves the DNA sensing performance of the Ag-NOF platform even after storage under several environmental conditions. Based on the results, it is anticipated that these MOF-coated Ag-NOF structures will be used as long-term stable SERS sensors for the detection of biological and chemical molecules.

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“…Over the recent decades, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been intensively developing and has proved itself as effective analytical method. Due to its capabilities, it finds its application in chemistry, materials science, medicine, biology, pharmacology, ecology, forensic science and other fields [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The examples of its particular use are measuring blood sugar level [2], early diagnostics of cancer [3], detection of pesticides in water, soil and vegetables [4], as wells as of air contamination [5], etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient SERS substrates based on laterally ordered gold nanostructures made using interference lithography

Hreshchuk¹,

Yukhymchuk²

2019

Semicond. phys. quantum electron. optoelectron

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Laterally ordered gold nanoisland arrays made using interference lithography has been investigated in this work as SERS substrates. The developed substrates demonstrate performance in enhancing Raman signal of common dye analyte (crystal violet (CV)) comparable to commercial SERS substrates, with the lowest detectable concentration of CV ~10 −6 …10 −7 M. They can be reused after heat treatment at 300 °C without any drop of performance. Furthermore, we found a principal difference in the effect of annealing of SERS substrates before deposition of the analyte molecules and additional in situ annealing (with molecules) on the intensity of Raman signal. Possible physical origin of the latter effect has been discussed.

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Atmospheric oxidation and carbon contamination of silver and its effect on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)

Cited by 107 publications

References 28 publications

Self‐Assembled Silver–Gold Nanoisland Films on Glass for SERS Applications

Self‐Assembled Silver–Gold Nanoisland Films on Glass for SERS Applications

Metal–Organic Framework Coating for the Preservation of Silver Nanowire Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering Platform

Efficient SERS substrates based on laterally ordered gold nanostructures made using interference lithography

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