Plasmonic effects in metal nanostructures have known an increasing employment in the realization of sensing devices for gas detection. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are evanescent electromagnetic waves bound to metal-dielectric interfaces. The high localization makes SPPs extremely sensitive to local refractive index changes on the surface and therefore SPPs represent a powerful instrument for label-free sensing purposes. Metal nanostructures of complex morphology take advantage of electromagnetic resonances and concomitant enhancement of the electromagnetic near-field owing to SPPs [1]. So, the activity aims to the low-cost, high-throughput and versatile fabrication of complex morphology metal nanostructures exhibiting SPPs, such as nanoporous Au (Fig. 1(a)) and Au nanodendrites (Fig. 1(b)) [2]. After the fabrication of nanoporous Au structures and Au nanodendrites, their structural characteristics will be analyzed so as their performance as sensors based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
Fig. 1- (a) Nanoporous Au submicron particle produced on SiO2; (b) Au nanodendritic structure produced on Si.
[1] F. Ruffino, et al., Nanomaterials 6, 110 (2016).
[2] F. Ruffino, et al., Appl. Surf. Sci. 296, 177 (2014).