Nanoporous membranes decorated with metal nanoparticle for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

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Hyunhyub Ko, hko3@gatech.edu and V. V. Tsukruk, vladimir@mse.gatech.edu. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 771 Ferst Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30332-0245
We introduce nanoporous membranes decorated with metal nanoparticles as robust and facile SERS substrate with high efficiency. Porous alumina membranes (PAMs) are modified with polyelectrolytes for the subsequent assembly of metal nanoparticles inside the vertical nanopore arrays. These metal nanoparticles inside the nanocanal arrays interact with the incoming laser beam very efficiently because of the easy light propagation and multiple interactions with metal clusters through the vertical pores. The controlled assembly of metal nanoparticle aggregates into porous alumina membranes provides hot spots inside the entire continuous nanocanals. The capability of this SERS substrate was verified for trace level detection of explosives.