%0 Journal Article
%T The Nanofabrication and Application of Substrates for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering
%A Xian Zhang
%A Qin Zhou
%A Yu Huang
%A Zhengcao Li
%A Zhengjun Zhang
%J International Journal of Spectroscopy
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/350684
%X Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) was discovered in 1974 and impacted Raman spectroscopy and surface science. Although SERS has not been developed to be an applicable detection tool so far, nanotechnology has promoted its development in recent decades. The traditional SERS substrates, such as silver electrode, metal island film, and silver colloid, cannot be applied because of their enhancement factor or stability, but newly developed substrates, such as electrochemical deposition surface, Ag porous film, and surface-confined colloids, have better sensitivity and stability. Surface enhanced Raman scattering is applied in other fields such as detection of chemical pollutant, biomolecules, DNA, bacteria, and so forth. In this paper, the development of nanofabrication and application of surface-enhanced Ramans scattering substrate are discussed. 1. Introduction Surface enhanced Raman Scattering was discovered by Fleischmann et al. in 1974 as a phenomenon where the intensity of Raman spectrum from pyridine adsorbed on a silver electrode is extrodinarily enhanced [1, 2]. Then this effect was verified in many kinds of metals such as Ag, Au, Cu, Li, Na, K, and so forth [2, 3], while high enhancement is just found in Ag, Au, and Cu. But the phenomenon was not correctly recognized at that time, then Jeanmaire and Van Duyne reported in 1977 that the enhancement of intensity of Raman spectrum from pyridine on silver electrode is attributed to the enhancement of the scattering cross-section of pyridine [4]. Then the phenomenon was accepted as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Cross-sections of Raman scattering are typically 14 orders of magnitude smaller than those of fluorescene. So the weak intensity of Raman spectrum, the limits from the intensity of excitation sources, and the sensitivity of detector hindered the application of Raman spectrum for many years. The discovery of surface enhanced Raman scattering made Raman scattering more applicable in a wide range of research fields, while the interest and attention focused on the mechanism of SERS promotes the development of the theory on enhanced optical scattering from metal surface [5¨C7]. But SERS has not been developed to be a powerful detection technique so far, which is attributed to three main reasons [8¨C11]. First, the phenomenon-surface enhanced Raman scattering is obvious in only silver, gold, and copper, so the research and application of SERS ares limited. Second, there are limited kinds of processes that can achieve SERS substrate with high sensitivity successfully, and the practical
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijs/2012/350684/