title: Growth of Sharp Tips on Gold Nanowires Leads to Increased Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Activity.
abstract: We report the formation of gold nanoparticles with a novel and useful morphology, comprising nanowires fully covered with sharp tips (thorned nanowires). The synthesis is based on a seeded-growth approach based the rapid overgrowth of ultrathin gold wires in N,N-dimethylformamide, in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone). The process allows a fine control over the thickness of the final wires, as well as the tunability of the number and sharpness of the thorns. These new plasmonic nanostructures display extremely strong optical enhancing properties and can be readily used as platforms for SERS and for integration in ultrasensitive optical devices.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Nicolás
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pazos-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Lorenzo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aldeanueva-Potel
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pérez-Juste
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pastoriza-Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Ramón A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Puebla
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química Física and Unidad Asociada CSIC, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Liz-Marzán
keywords: SERS; gold; nanoparticles; nanowires; sensing