Silver coated aluminium microrods as highly colloidal stable SERS platforms

Abstract

We report on the fabrication of a novel material with the ability to remain in solution even under the very demanding conditions required for structural and dynamic characterization of biomacromolecule assays. This stability is provided by the increase in surface area of a low density material (aluminium) natively coated with a very hydrophilic surface composed of aluminium oxide (Al(2)O(3)) and metallic silver nanoparticles. Additionally, due to the dense collection of active hot spots on their surface, this material offers higher levels of SERS intensity as compared with the same free and aggregated silver nanoparticles.

Cavitation Engineered 3D Sponge Networks and Their Application in Active Surface Construction

“…We present a nice way of functionalizing a metal surface with a soft matter layer. This is not always easy to achieve and there are specific applications where one has to work on metal substrates such as anti fouling systems, [32] implants, stem cell research, SERS [33] etc. We described an effective sonochemical pathway of surface engineering providing lot of space for further optimization with an ultrasound assisted adsorption of temperature sensitive polymers in focus, some candidates are thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) [34] and polyoxazolines [35] that change their morphology and reactivity in a narrow temperature region.…”

SERS investigation on the adsorption and photoreaction of 4‐nitroanisole in Ag hydrosols

“…As a conclusion, the first requisite for obtaining reliable and reproducible SERS results is to provide a valid procedure to obtain Ag colloidal systems with both stability and SERS activity. Silica or alumina could be employed as support of silver nanostructures in order to increase the stability of the colloidal suspensions . However, even if these materials are SERS inactive, spectral interferences with the SERS bands of the adsorbed molecules are possible.…”

“…Silica or alumina could be employed as support of silver nanostructures in order to increase the stability of the colloidal suspensions. [17][18][19][20][21] However, even if these materials are SERS inactive, spectral interferences with the SERS bands of the adsorbed molecules are possible. In the present study, a small amount of LiCl is introduced under continuous stirring in the Ag colloidal dispersions obtained by reduction of silver ions with borohydride, according to the procedure described in the experimental.…”

Controllable manipulation of crystallinity and morphology of aluminium surfaces using high intensity ultrasound

“…HIUS assisted metal treatment can provide metal surface with a number of beneficial features including the removal of surface passivating metal oxide layer with poor mechanical properties [4], increase of surface roughness [5], and effective surface area [6]. Thus, the ultrasonically modified surfaces possess enhanced adhesive properties [8], increased loading capacity [9,10] and can be used as efficient catalysts [11][12][13] or bioactive supports [14]. However, impact of cavitation on metal surface is still not very well understood.…”

“…The grain size of the SEM images of the initial Al surface (1) and the Al surface sonicated in ethylene glycol(2,5,8), water (4, 7, 10), ethanol(3,6,9) for different time (a); grain size of Al surface estimated using corresponding SEM images vs. sonication time for the samples prepared in different sonication media (b).…”