An effective oxide shell-protected surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate: the easy route to Ag@AgxO-silicon nanowire films via surface doping

This paper reported the fabrication of an ultrathin silver oxide shell covered silver nanoparticles embedded in silicon nanowire film (Ag@AgxO-SiNW) by a facile method. The amorphous ultrathin silver oxide layers, which can keep Ag nanoparticles from agglomerating, were confirmed by HRTEM and STEM mapping. The Ag@AgxO-SiNW was employed as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate and exhibited excellent enhancement for the concentration detection (1 × 10−7 M) of rhodamine 6 G and crystal violet with the relative standard deviation of the main Raman vibration modes less than 20%. This core@shell structure may be explained by the surface doping of silicon nanowires.