Submit Article
Asian Journal of Physics  Vol. 31 No 2, 2022, 341-353

Establishing the SERS-based sensing capabilities of silver nanorod thin films fabricated through oblique angle deposition at different temperatures
Adam C Stahler, Piyush J Shah, Andrew M Sarangan, and Ioana E Pavel

Abstract

Silver nanorod thin films (AgNRs) grown using oblique angle deposition are known to induce surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects in analyte molecules adsorbed to their nanoscaled features. In this study, a rigorous approach was developed for comparing the SERS-based sensing capabilities of AgNR films grown at different temperatures using fluorescence emission spectroscopy (FES) in conjunction with a widely-used SERS test probe, rhodamine 6G (R6G), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). While FES helped quantifying for the first time the number of R6G molecules adsorbed on the AgNR films, SEM measurements revealed major structural differences in the diameter, length, and tilt angle of AgNR films fabricated at cryogenic (100 K) and room temperatures (300 K). Due to the higher density (~39.5%) and increased surface area (~60.0%) of the 100 K AgNRs, significant improvements were detected in the SERS spatial performance (e.g., 100% at 10–7 M of R6G) and the overall intensity of the SERS signal (e.g., 445% at 10–7 M of R6G) in comparison with the 300 K AgNRs. The 100 K AgNRs were also found to exhibit ~10-fold larger SERS signals and enhancement factors than the widely-used Creighton, colloidal silver nanoparticles for 10–6 M of R6G. This novel approach for establishing SERS-based sensing capabilities could be utilized for the evaluation of a large variety of AgNR films of promising sensing applications due to their low cost and high reproducibility. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Keywords: SERS, Silver nanorod films, Oblique angle deposition, Half-mustard.

Peer Review Information
Method: Single- anonymous; Screened for Plagiarism? Yes
Buy this Article in Print © Anita Publications. All rights reserved

References

  1. Nie S, Emory S R, Probing single molecules and single nanoparticles by surface-enhanced Raman scattering, Science, 275(1997)1102–1106.
  2. Xu S, Ju X, Xu W, Li X, Wang L, Bai Y, Zhao B, Ozaki Y, Immunoassay using probe-labelling immunogold nanoparticles with silver staining enhancement via surface-enhanced Raman scattering, Analyst, 129(2004)63–68.
  3. Kneipp K, Wang Y, Kneipp H, Perelman L T, Itzkan I, Dasari R R, Feld M S, Single molecule detection using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), Phys Rev Lett, 78(1997)1667–1670.
  4. Pavel I, McCarney E, Elkhaled A, Morrill A, Plaxco K, Moskovits M S, Label-free SERS detection of small proteins modified to act as bifunctional linkers, J Phys Chem C, 112(2008)4880–4883.
  5. Pavel I, Alnajjar K, Monahan J, Stahler A, Hunter N, Weaver K, Baker J, Meyerhoefer A, Dolson D J, Estimating the Analytical and Surface Enhancement Factors in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS): A Novel Physical Chemistry and Nanotechnology Laboratory Experiment, Chem Educ, 89(2012)286–290.
  6. Driskell J, Shanmukh S, Liu Y, Chaney S, Tang X.-J, Zhao Y.-P, Dluhy R, The use of aligned silver nanorod arrays prepared by oblique angle deposition as surface enhanced Raman scattering substrates, J Phys Chem C, 112(2008)895–901.
  7. Driskell J, Shanmukh S, Liu Y, Hennigan S, Jones L, Zhao Y, Dluhy R, Krause D, Tripp R, Infectious agent detection with SERS-active silver nanorod arrays prepared by oblique angle deposition, IEEE Sensors J, 8(2008)863–870.
  8. Chu H, Huang Y, Zhao Y, Silver nanorod arrays as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate for foodborne pathogenic bacteria detection, Appl Spectrosc, 62(2008)922–931.
  9. Wu Y, Livneh T, Zhang Y, Cheng G, Wang J, Tang J, Moskovits M, Stucky G, Nano Lett, 4(2004)2337–2342.
  10. Felidj N, Aubard J, Levi G, Krenn J, Hohenau A, Schider G, Leitner A, Aussenegg F, Optimized surface-enhanced Raman scattering on gold nanoparticle arrays, Appl Phys Lett, 82(2003)3095; doi.org/10.1063/1.1571979.
  11. Schlegel V, Cotton T, Silver-island films as substrates for enhanced Raman scattering: effect of deposition rate on intensity, Anal Chem, 63(1991)241–247.
  12. Douketis C, Wang Z, Haslett T L, Moskovits M, Fractal character of cold-deposited silver films determined by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, Phys Rev B, 51(1995)11022–11032.
  13. McBreen P H, Moskovits M, Optical properties of silver films deposited at low temperatures, J Appl Phys, 54(1983)329–335.
  14. Liu Y, Chu H, Zhao Y, Silver nanorod array substrates fabricated by oblique angle deposition: morphological, optical, and SERS characterizations, J Phys Chem C, 114(2010)8176–8183.
  15. Benson M, Shah P, Marciniak M, Sarangan A, Urbas A, Optical characterization of silver nanorod thin films grown using oblique angle deposition, J Nanomater, 2014(2014); doi.org/10.1155/2014/694982.
  16. Hawkeye M, Brett M, Glancing angle deposition: Fabrication, properties, and applications of micro-and nanostructured thin films, J Vac Sci Technol A, 25(2007)1317; doi.org/10.1116/1.2764082-1335.
  17. Oh M.-K, Shin Y.-S, Lee C.-L, De R, Kang H, Yu N E, Kim B H, Kim J H, Morphological and SERS properties of silver nanorod array films fabricated by oblique thermal evaporation at various substrate temperatures, Nanoscale Res Lett, 10( 2015)259; doi.org/10.1186/s11671-015-0962-8.
  18. Lee J, Min K, Kim Y, Yu H K, Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) study using oblique angle deposition of Ag using different substrates, Materials, 12(2019)1581; doi.org/10.3390/ma12101581.
  19. Hui D, Zhou S, Cai C, Song S, Wu Z, Song J, Zhang Da, Meng X, Lu Bo, Duan Y, Tursun H, Gibson D, Plasma Enhanced Fluorine-Free Superhydrophobic Polyester (PET) Fabric with Ultra-Robust Antibacterial and Antibacterial Adhesion Properties, Coatings, 11(2021)1–15.
  20. Creighton J A, Blatchford C G, Albrecht M G, Plasma resonance enhancement of Raman scattering by pyridine adsorbed on silver or gold sol particles of size comparable to the excitation wavelength, J Chem Soc, Faraday Trans, 2(1979)790–798.
  21. Trefry J C, Monahan J L, Weaver K M, Meyerhoefer A J, Markopolous M M, Arnold Z S, Wooley D P, Pavel I E, Size selection and concentration of silver nanoparticles by tangential flow ultrafiltration for SERS-based biosensors, J Am Chem Soc, 132(2010)10970–10972.
  22. Ciou S H, Cao Y W, Huang H.-C, Su D Y, Huang C L, SERS enhancement factors studies of silver nanoprism and spherical nanoparticle colloids in the presence of bromide ions, J Phys Chem C, 113(2009)9520–9525.
  23. The Mathworks, Inc, Natick, MA, USA.
  24. Abramoff M D, Magalhaes P J, Ram S J, Image processing with ImageJ, Biophotonics Int, 11(2004)36–42.
  25. Pavel I, McCarney E, Elkhaled A, Morrill A, Plaxco K, Moskovits M, Label-free SERS detection of small proteins modified to act as bifunctional linkers, J Phys Chem C, 112(2008)4880–4883.
  26. Shah P, Ju D, Niu X, Sarangan A M, Vapor phase sensing using metal nanorod thin films grown by cryogenic oblique angle deposition, J Sens, (2013), 823041; doi.org/10.1155/2013/823041.
  27. Fan J, Dyer D, Zhang G, Zhoa Y, Nanocarpet effect: pattern formation during the wetting of vertically aligned nanorod arrays, Nano Lett, 4(2004)2133–2138.

Article 

Establishing-the-SERS-based-sensing-capabilities…Download

Related Posts