Multi-shaped silver meso-particles with tunable morphology for surface enhanced Raman scattering

• Published in: Optics communications 2021-10, Vol.497, p.127200, Article 127200
• Main Authors: Hue, Do Thi, Thao, Nguyen Thi Phuong, Khoi, Tran Khac, Ha, Chu Viet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical method; Hierarchical SMPs; L-AA; SERS; Silver meso-particles (SMPs)
• ISSN: 0030-4018; 1873-0310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2021.127200

Silver meso-particles (SMPs) were successfully synthesized by a simple chemical method in the presence of L-ascorbic acid reducing agent and silver ions precursor in AgNO 3. Silver meso-structures of different topographies have been synthesized by varying the concentration of the reactants such as the L-AA concentration or the Ag+ ions concentration as well as by varying the temperature reaction. The structural morphology and optical properties of SMPs were thoroughly investigated by employing different characterization methods such as ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the smaller the concentration of Ag+ ions and the greater the concentration of reducing agent L-AA, the more hierarchical SMPs. This investigation is explained by the mechanism of formation and development of SMPs in the solution. The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects of the synthesized SMPSs are also estimated by using the detection of the Rhodamine B (RB) pigments. The investigation confirmed that the highly branched silver meso-structures exhibit a higher efficiency in enhancing surface Raman scattering in comparison with the less branched ones. The enhancement factor EF scattering at the featured peaks for 10−6 M RB on the SMPs substrate are calculated around 104. Our work might give a good reference for the fabrication of SMPs, which are suitable to be applied in sensing. •Silver meso-particles (SMPs) were successfully synthesized by a simple chemicalmethod using L-ascorbic acid as reducing agent.•Numerous branches of SMPs were created at low temperatures with the low concentration of the Ag+ ions and the high concentration of L-AA. The silver mesostructures had the most branching at 40 °C.•Fabricated SMPs enhanced greatly the effect of surface Raman scattering, in which the coral-like SMPs with more branches exhibited a better detection ability of RB dye molecules.