Selective growth of Ag nanodewdrops on Au nanostructures: a new type of bimetallic heterostructure

A new type of bimetallic Au-Ag heterostructured material was prepared by a selective growing strategy of a Ag nanodewdrop on the petal tip of a Au flower using an electrochemical method. The whole process was strictly controlled by forming the reactive tip of the flower petal and passivating the facet along the body of the metal petal using poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) coating film. The formed Au-Ag heterostructured flowers (HSFs) were observed to be about 2 microm in diameter and have the Ag particles of about 50 nm settled on the tips of Au petals. The Au-Ag HSFs were found to display the superior properties on the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The presence of Ag nanodewdrops could also facilitate the oxidation of Ru(bpy)3(2+) complex in electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) measurements and dramatically enhance the emission intensity. The features of Au-Ag HSFs can promise a new type of heterogeneous bimetallic alloy material for the potential applications in chemical and biological sensors.