title: Boron Nitride Nanosheet-Veiled Gold Nanoparticles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.
abstract: Atomically thin boron nitride (BN) nanosheets have many properties desirable for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). BN nanosheets have a strong surface adsorption capability toward airborne hydrocarbon and aromatic molecules. For maximized adsorption area and hence SERS sensitivity, atomically thin BN nanosheet-covered gold nanoparticles have been prepared for the first time. When placed on top of metal nanoparticles, atomically thin BN nanosheets closely follow their contours so that the plasmonic hot spots are retained. Electrically insulating BN nanosheets also act as a barrier layer to eliminate metal-induced disturbances in SERS. Moreover, the SERS substrates veiled by BN nanosheets show an outstanding reusability in the long term. As a result, the sensitivity, reproducibility, and reusability of SERS substrates can be greatly improved. We also demonstrate that large BN nanosheets produced by chemical vapor deposition can be used to scale up the proposed SERS substrate for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University , Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Qiran
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University , Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Srikanth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mateti
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science , Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science , Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials and Chemistry Key Laboratory, Wenzhou University , Wenzhou 325027, China.
authors.forename: Shaoming
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University , Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University , Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Lu Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: boron nitride nanosheets; plasmonic metal particles; reusability; surface adsorption; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)