Egg White Templated Synthesis of Ag and Au@Ag Alloy Microspheres for Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Research

Herein, we report the green synthesis of Ag and Au@Ag microspheres by using the aqueous extracts of the egg white as well as their application as substrates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection. Both microspheres are prepared via the green synthesis method (room temperature, in aqueous solution and a benign reducer). The as-prepared urchin-like Ag microspheres have an average diameter of 600-800 nm, which is made up of some nanopricks with an average length of 10-40 nm. Meanwhile, the Au@Ag architectures prepared by galvanic replacement keep nearly similar size, which is also composed of some compact nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 10-40 nm. These products are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR). The study on SERS activities is also carried out for both microspheres. It is found that Au@Ag microspheres possess much higher SERS activity than Ag microspheres. Our work may shed light on the design and synthesis of self-assembled 3D micro/nano-architectures for the use of SERS, catalysis, biosensors, nanomedicine, etc.