An ordered mesoporous Ag superstructure synthesized via a template strategy for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopyElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: TEM images of the KIT-6 template, SEM images of OMAS-10, details of FDTD simulation, optical parameters, and the estimation of the SERS enhancement factor. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr03759j

• Main Authors: Tian, Cuifeng, Li, Jiang, Ma, Chunsheng, Wang, Ping, Sun, Xiaohong, Fang, Jixiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 16.07.2015
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c5nr03759j

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates with high density and uniformity of nanogaps are proven to enhance the reproducibility and sensitivity of the Raman signal. Up to now, the syntheses of a highly ordered gold or silver superstructure with a controllable nanoparticle size and a well-defined particle gap have been quite limited. Here, we reported an ordered mesoporous silver superstructure replicated by using ordered mesoporous KIT-6 and SAB-15 as templates. By means of a nanocasting process, the ordered mesoporous Ag superstructure was successfully synthesized, which shows uniform distribution of the nanowire diameter (10 nm) and nanogap size (∼2 nm), thus exhibiting a high Raman enhancement of ∼10 9 . The finite difference time-domain (FDTD) results indicate that the ordered mesoporous Ag superstructure has a uniform distribution of hot spots. Therefore, the mesoporous silica template strategy presented here could lead to a new class of high quality SERS substrates providing extraordinary potential for diverse applications. Ordered mesoporous Ag superstructure was synthesized by means of a nanocasting process. The nanowire bundled superstructure shows uniform distribution of small nanogap size down to ∼2 nm, thus exhibits ultrahigh Raman enhancement.