title: An ordered mesoporous Ag superstructure synthesized via a template strategy for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education and International Center for Dielectric Research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shann xi, 710049, China. jxfang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn sunxh@tju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Cuifeng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chunsheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jixiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang