A complementary study of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and metal nanorod arrays

Abstract The two-dimensional arrays of various metal nanowires with diameters ranging from 15 to 70 nm have been fabricated by electrodepositing metals of Cu, Ag, Au, Ni, and Co into the nanoholes of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) films, followed by partial removal of the film. The strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects were observed from the metal nanowire arrays including Ni, Co metals that were normally considered to be non-SERS active substrates. It has been shown that metal nanowire arrays can serve as very good SERS active substrates, especially for transition metals. The SERS intensity of the probe molecule adsorbed at the nanowires depends critically on the length of the nanowires explored at the surface. And the band frequency is very sensitive to the diameter, which reflects the change in the electronic property of metal nanowires. Applying this probe molecule strategy, SERS could develop into a diagnostic tool of metal nanowires (nanorods).