Surface-enhanced spectroscopy substrates utilize the localized surface plasmon resonance of nanoparticles for optical, catalysis, and biological applications. Top-down fabrication and bottom-up synthesis of nanoparticles provide different benefits to preparing nanoparticle assemblies used in surface-enhanced spectroscopies. Fabricated nanostructures have very reproducible geometries and defined surface areas. Synthesized nanoparticles can have larger enhancements due to finer control of shape via facet passivation. However, synthetic nanoparticles can aggregate and fall out of solution making their use somewhat limited. By combining top-down fabrication with bottom-up synthesis, we have fabricated gold nanostructures and added branched clusters using a seeded synthesis. The clusters resemble nanomites covering the underlying plasmonic structure and provide a roughened surface and potential for enhanced near field behavior. The nanomite growth was examined under the effects of temperature, reaction time, pH, and reagent concentration. The resulting nanomite particles were analyzed using scanning-electron microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy, revealing synthesized structures with high levels of branching that yielded high refractive index sensitivity and increased enhancement for surface-enhanced spectroscopies.<br/>

Seeded synthesis of nanomites by combining top-down and bottom-up strategies

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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