IP Library › Patent Application 13026946
Patent Application
App. No. 13/026,946

SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY USING SHAPED GOLD NANOPARTICLES

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US None
App. No.
13/026,946
Abstract

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold substrates is presented for SAMs onto which gold nanoparticles of various shapes have been electrostatically immobilized. SERS spectra of 4-MBA SAMs are enhanced in the presence of immobilized gold nanocrystals by a factor of 10 7 -10 9 relative to 4-MBA in solution. Large enhancement factors are a likely result of plasmon coupling between the nanoparticles (localized surface plasmon) and the smooth gold substrate (surface plasmon polariton), creating large localized electromagnetic fields at their interface, where 4-MBA molecules reside in this sandwich architecture. Moreover, enhancement factors depend on nanoparticle shape, and vary by a factor of 10 2 .

Claims (4)

1 . A cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-capped gold nanoparticle.

2 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the shape comprises a cube, a block, a tetrapod, a rod with an aspect ratio of at least about 3.2, or a dogbone.

3 . A composition comprising:

nanoparticulate gold and a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide residue, wherein the composition has a shape comprising a cube, a block, a tetrapod, a sphere, a rod, a star, or a dogbone.