Highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate made from superaligned carbon nanotubes.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has attracted wide attention because it can enhance normally weak Raman signal by several orders of magnitude and facilitate the sensitive detection of molecules. Conventional SERS substrates are constructed by placing metal nanoparticles on a planar surface. Here we show that, if the planar surface was substituted by a unique nanoporous surface, the enhancement effect can be dramatically improved. The nanoporous surface can be easily fabricated in batches and at low costs by cross stacking superaligned carbon nanotube films. The as-prepared transparent and freestanding SERS substrate is capable of detecting ambient trinitrotoluene vapor, showing much higher Raman enhancement than ordinary planar substrates because of the extremely large surface area and the unique zero-dimensional at one-dimensional nanostructure. These results not only provide a new approach to ultrasensitive SERS substrates, but also are helpful for improving the fundamental understanding of SERS phenomena.
Sun
Yinghui
Y
Department of Physics and Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Liu
Kai
K
Miao
Jiao
J
Wang
Zheyao
Z
Tian
Baozhong
B
Zhang
Lina
L
Li
Qunqing
Q
Fan
Shoushan
S
Jiang
Kaili
K
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D008027:Light; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D008422:Materials Testing; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010316:Particle Size; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties
D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon