Abstract
A general stepwise strategy for the preparation of new humidity-responsive plasmonic nanosensor was described for the first time, based on Ag film functionalization by polyacrylamide (PAAM) brushes via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) method and then assembled with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). We designed by this way a new plasmonic device made of Au NPs embedded in a humid vapor responsive polymer layer on Ag film and extensively characterized by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). When the relative humidity (RH) is above 50%, the number of plasmonic hotspots decreases, causing SERS signal reduced noticeably, for the volume expansion of PAAM brushes varied the nano-gap between closely spaced Au NPs, and between Au NPs and Ag film. The reversible optical properties of the prepared nanocomposite tuned by RH were probed through SERS using 4-mercaptopyridine (4-Mpy) as a molecular probe, and the decrease of the RH reversibly induces a significant enhancement of the 4-Mpy SERS signal. By means of the high reversibility, the RH responsive nanocomposite developed in this paper provides a dynamic SERS platform and can be applied as plasmonic nanosensor which is proved to be stable for at least two months.
摘要
本文报道了一种湿度响应纳米SERS传感器. 通过原子转移自由基聚合技术在银片表面嫁接了具有湿度响应性能的聚丙烯酰胺分子 刷, 并组装金纳米颗粒形成复合结构. 该分子刷湿度响应灵敏, 而且可有效抓取金纳米颗粒, 构成均匀分布的SERS“热点”. 通过调节湿度, 实现了SERS“热点”的可逆调控, 并通过拉曼光谱快速捕捉探针分子特征峰的SERS信号强度变化, 实现湿度响应的SERS传感功能. 湿度低 于50%时, 分子刷收缩, 金纳米颗粒间距降至纳米级, 形成大量热点, 使得SERS增强因子达到2×108; 湿度高于50%, 分子刷舒张, 金纳米颗粒 间距变大, 当湿度大于90%时, SERS“热点”最少, SERS信号最低. 可逆调控湿度变化, 得到可逆的SERS信号变化, 因此该复合材料实现了高 效灵敏的湿度响应SERS传感.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51572009).
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Author contributions You T, Xu G and Gao Y designed and supervised the project. Chen H carried out the experiments with assistance from Zhang C, Yang N and Yin P. Chen H, You T and Yin P wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript at all stages.
Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.
Huaxiang Chen is a PhD student at the School of Chemistry, Beihang University, under the supervision of Prof. Penggang Yin. Currently, he is working on the development of environmental-sensitive SERS nanosensors.
Penggang Yin is a professor at the School of Chemistry, Beihang University. He obtained his PhD in 2003 from Beijing Institute of Technology. From 2003 to 2005, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has worked at Beihang University since 2005 with research interests focusing on Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, fabrication, characterization and numerical simulation of nanomaterial.
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Humidity-responsive nanocomposite of gold nanoparticles and polyacrylamide brushes grafted on Ag film: synthesis and application as plasmonic nanosensor
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Chen, H., You, T., Xu, G. et al. Humidity-responsive nanocomposite of gold nanoparticles and polyacrylamide brushes grafted on Ag film: synthesis and application as plasmonic nanosensor. Sci. China Mater. 61, 1201–1208 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-017-9232-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-017-9232-2