Hybrid silver nanoparticles with controlled morphology as efficient substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Effects of Raman Labeling Compounds on the Stability and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Performance of Ag Nanoparticle-Embedded Silica Nanoparticles as Tagging Materials

“…SiO 2 @Ag NPs are structurally characterized as having an excellent LSPR, and the addition of RLCs gives them a great advantage in studies using a SERS-tagging material [ 36 , 41 ]. However, because of the nature of Ag NPs, dissolution or Ostwald ripening occurs during storage in the colloidal phase, causing structural deformation and poor signal consistency [ 9 , 35 ]. The synthesized SiO 2 @Ag NPs were stored in ethanol at approximately 4 °C in refrigeration.…”

“…This method, which harnesses the optical properties of metals, is driven by incident light on the surface of the material and the generation of a strong electric field between the metal and light. This results in collective oscillations or localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), resulting in very strong Raman intensities [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. In addition, the bonding, orientation, and morphology of nanomaterials, which serve as SERS substrates for target molecules and their surfaces, can modify their physical or chemical properties, allowing for quantitative and qualitative analyses of even the smallest molecules [ 10 , 11 ].…”

“…Owing to these advantages, a SERS-tagging material can be used for the targeting and imaging of small molecules, DNA, proteins, cells, tissues, and tumors in vivo [ 3 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. However, because LSPR is sensitive to factors such as the shape, size, and concentration of the SERS substrate, it is very important to control it structurally and uniformly to increase signal consistency [ 1 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 27 , 28 ].…”

“…In a recent study, Ag NP-embedded silica NPs (SiO 2 @Ag NPs) were utilized as a SERS-tagging material owing to their structural features with many hotspots and the high plasmonic properties of Ag NPs [ 1 , 4 , 9 , 23 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. The advantage of using the silica template is that it retains more hot spots due to the structural advantage.…”