While surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on metal nanostructures has been widely studied, SERS-active semiconductor nanostructures attract increasing interests due to their strong interactions with probe molecules and the broad applications. Here we present an exploration of using cuprous oxide nanostructures with hierarchical porosity to enhance Raman signals in molecule detections.  A variety of microscopic and spectroscopic methods were used to confirm the nanostructures of the cuprous oxide nanoshells and their porous thin films. It reveals distinct SERS signals on these cuprous oxide nanostructures.  The observed SERS enhancement can be interpreted as synergistic effects of chemical interactions, localized electromagnetic field enhancement, and the unique hierarchical porosity of the nanostructures.  Our work introduced a novel type of semiconductor substrates with high-performance SERS capability which extended the applications of cuprous oxide nanostructures to spectroscopy-based molecular sensing.

Porous cuprous oxide nanoshells and thin films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

244th National Meeting (2012)

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