title: Synthesis of wheatear-like ZnO nanoarrays decorated with Ag nanoparticles and its improved SERS performance through hydrogenation.
abstract: Semiconductor/noble metal composite SERS substrates have been extensively studied due to their unique bifunctionality. In this work, wheatear-like ZnO nanoarrarys have been fabricated via a modified low-temperature solution method. The hierarchical nanostructures that are constructed by stacked nanoflakes and long whiskers of ZnO possess a substantial number of characteristic nano corners and edges, which are proved to be beneficial to deposit more Ag nanoparticles (NPs). Furthermore, hydrogenated wheatear-like ZnO/AgNP composite substrates are achieved via a safe and facile solid hydrogen source (NaBH4). The hydrogenated ZnO/AgNPs (H-ZnO/Ag) substrates exhibit greatly improved SERS activity in detecting R6G molecules with an enhancement factor (EF) up to ∼0.49 × 10(8), over two orders of magnitude higher than that of the substrates before hydrogenation. The outstanding SERS performance of wheatear-like H-ZnO/Ag substrates benefits from the emerging porous structure of ZnO and abundant surface defects introduced by hydrogenation. In addition, the as-prepared substrates also show high detection sensitivity, good repeatability and recyclability, indicating great potential for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, People's Republic of China. Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yufeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yanqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Chaoli
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Zhengren
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang