One-Step Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Liquid Crystal Molecules for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection

• Published in: Plasmonics (Norwell, Mass.) Vol. 15; no. 6; pp. 1675 - 1681
• Main Authors: Ma, Liping, Gao, Ce, Lu, Xuemei, Wu, Shiwei, Song, Peng, Xia, Lixin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Gold; Liquid crystals; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nematic crystals; Raman spectra; Reducing agents; Rhodamine 6G; Room temperature; Stabilizers (agents); Substrates; Nematic liquid crystal; One-step nanocrystal synthesis; SERS; Gold nanoparticles
• ISSN: 1557-1955; 1557-1963
• DOI: 10.1007/s11468-020-01188-6

Gold nanoparticles have received widespread attention as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection active substrates. In this work, we used the nematic liquid crystal molecule N-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline (MBBA) at room temperature to synthesize liquid crystal (LC)-Au nanoparticles in one step without adding any other reducing agents or stabilizers. Gold nanoparticles synthesized by this method have good sensitivity and stability as a SERS substrate. The nanoparticles can detect Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules with a concentration as low as 10 −8  M, and the SERS signal does not decrease significantly in 30 days. Using this synthesis principle, we grew gold nanoparticles in a capillary in one step. We expect the proposed method to result in a highly efficient and portable SERS substrate after subsequent improvements.