Nonresonant surface-enhanced Raman scattering of ZnO quantum dots with Au and Ag nanoparticles

Pronounced 10(4)-fold enhancement of Raman scattering has been obtained for ZnO nanocrystals on substrates coated with 50 nm Ag nanoparticles under nonresonant excitation with a commercial red-emitting laser. This makes feasible beyond 10(-18) mole detection of ZnO nanocrystals with a commercial setup using a 0.1 mW continuous wave laser and can be purposefully used in analytical applications where conjugated nanocrystals serve as Raman markers. For Au-coated surfaces the enhancement is much lower and the heating effects in the course of Raman experiments are pronounced.