Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Studies of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Prepared by Laser Ablation

Gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared in water, acetonitrile and isopropanol by laser ablation methodologies. The average characteristic (longer) size of the NPs obtained ranged from 3 to 70 nm. 4-Aminobenzebethiol (4-ABT) was chosen as the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe molecule to determine the optimum irradiation time and the pH of aqueous synthesis of the laser ablation-based synthesis of metallic NPs. The synthesized NPs were used to evaluate their capacity as substrates for developing more analytical applications based on SERS measurements. A highly energetic material, TNT, was used as the target compound in the SERS experiments. The Raman spectra were measured with a Raman microspectrometer. The results demonstrate that gold and silver NP substrates fabricated by the methods developed show promising results for SERS-based studies and could lead to the development of micro sensors.