Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 14, 2026

A Method to Fabricate Disconnected Silver Nanostructures in 3D
Published on: November 27, 2012
Rational fabrication of silver-coated AFM TERS tips with a high enhancement and long lifetime
Teng-Xiang Huang1, Cha-Wei Li, Li-Kun Yang
1Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, and The MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis and Instrumentation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. wangxiang@xmu.edu.cn fzyang@xmu.edu.cn bren@xmu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), known as nanospectroscopy, has received increasing interest as it can provide nanometer spatial resolution and chemical fingerprint information of samples simultaneously. Since Ag tips are well accepted to show a higher TERS enhancement than that of gold tips, there is an urgent quest for Ag TERS tips with a high enhancement, long lifetime, and high reproducibility, especially for atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based TERS. Herein, we developed an electrodeposition method to fabricate Ag-coated AFM TERS tips in a highly controllable and reproducible way. We investigated the influence of the electrodeposition potential and time on the morphology and radius of the tip. The radii of Ag-coated AFM tips can be rationally controlled at a few to hundreds nanometers, which allows us to systematically study the dependence of the TERS enhancement on the tip radius. The Ag-coated AFM tips show the highest TERS enhancement under 632.8 nm laser excitation and a broad localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) response when coupled to a Au substrate. The tips exhibit a lifetime of 13 days, which is particularly important for applications that need a long measuring time.
Related Concept Videos
Rationalizing Substitutions
Rational Expressions
Asymptotes in Rational Functions
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Integration of Rational Functions Using Partial Fractions
Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles

