Novel Strategy for One-Pot Synthesis of Gold Nanoplates on Carbon Nanotube Sheet As an Effective Flexible SERS Substrate

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 9; no. 7; pp. 6246 - 6254
• Main Authors: Xin, Wenbo, Yang, Jenn-Ming, Li, Chao, Goorsky, Mark S, Carlson, Larry, De Rosa, Igor M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 22.02.2017
• Subjects: carbon nanotube sheet; gold nanoplates; one-pot synthesis; flexible SERS substrate
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b10560

In this work, we demonstrate a novel route for one-pot synthesis of two-dimensional gold nanoplates (2-D AuNPLs) on carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet. Well-defined AuNPLs are grafted onto CNT sheet via a facile hydrothermal reduction process, during which bromine ions are employed as the surfactant for gold anisotropic growth. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows large-scale AuNPLs with micrometer-scaled length and sub-100 nm thickness are deposited uniformly on the CNT sheet. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirm the synthesized AuNPLs are single-crystalline with preferential {111} orientation. Based on the CNT sheet/AuNPLs hybrid, we have fabricated a flexible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, which can effectively detect the analyte Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) at the concentration as low as 1 × 10–7 M. The excellent SERS performance of this novel flexible substrate is mainly attributed to nanoscaled gaps between the neighbors, large surface area with roughness, and their sharp edges and corners.