Self-Assembly of Au-Ag Alloy Hollow Nanochains for Enhanced Plasmon-Driven Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

In this paper, Au-Ag alloy hollow nanochains (HNCs) were successfully prepared by a template-free self-assembly method achieved by partial substitution of ligands. The obtained Au-Ag alloy HNCs exhibit stronger enhancement as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates than Au-Ag alloy hollow nanoparticles (HNPs) and Au nanochains substrates with an intensity ratio of about 1.3:1:1. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations show that the SERS enhancement of Au-Ag alloy HNCs substrates is produced by a synergistic effect between the plasmon hybridization effect associated with the unique alloy hollow structure and the strong "hot spot" in the interstitial regions of the nanochains.