Methods of fabricating surface enhanced raman scattering substrates
AssigneeBoard of Trustees of the University of Arkansas
InventorsAlexandru S. Biris, Abhijit Biswas, Ilker S. Bayer, Lloyd A. Bumm
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Abstract
A method of fabricating a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate. In one embodiment, the method has the steps of simultaneously evaporating a metal at a first evaporation rate and a polymer at a second evaporation rate different from the first evaporation rate, to form a nanocomposite of the metal and the polymer, depositing the nanocomposite onto a substrate, and applying an etching process to the deposited nanocomposite on the substrate to remove the polymer material, thereby forming an SERS substrate.
Claims12
A method of fabricating a surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate, comprising the step of
- forming a fractal metal-polymer nanocomposite of at least one metal and at least one polymer on a surface of a substrate, wherein the fractal metal-polymer nanocomposite comprises a plurality of nanoparticles of the at least one metal dispersed in a matrix of the at least one polymer, and wherein the plurality of nanoparticles has an average size ranging from about 10 nm to about 30 nm, and an inter-particle gap being less than about 1.5 nm;
- and
- applying an etching treatment to the metal-polymer nanocomposite to remove the matrix of the at least one polymer such that the plurality of nanoparticles are exposed and capable of participating light scattering in Raman spectroscopy.
A surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate, comprising a nanostructure on a surface of a substrate, the nanostructure having a network of nanoparticles of a first material dispersed in a nano-scale matrix of a second material, the nanoparticles having an average size ranging from about 10 nm to about 30 nm, and an inter-particle gap being less than about 1.5 nm, wherein the nanoparticles are exposed on the nano-scale matrix, wherein the nanostructure is formed by applying an etching treatment to a nanocomposite having the nanoparticles embedded in the nano-scale matrix, and wherein the nanoparticles are capable of participating light scattering in Raman spectroscopy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.