No abstract

3D surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging with highly symmetric 3D silver microparticles as a SERS substrate was developed. Although the synthesis method is purely chemical and does not involve lithography, the synthesized nanoporous silver microparticles possess a regular hexapod shape and octahedral symmetry. By using p-aminothiophenol (PATP) as a probe molecule, the 3D enhancement patterns of the particles were shown to be very regular and predictable, resembling the particle shape and exhibiting symmetry. An application to the detection of 3D inhomogeneity in a polymer blend, which relies on the predictable enhancement pattern of the substrate, is presented. 3D SERS imaging using the substrate also provides an improvement in spatial resolution along the Z axis, which is a challenge for Raman measurement in polymers, especially layered polymeric systems.

Chloride ions are essential for creating an etching environment capable of selective dissolution of singly and multiply twinned crystals, while leaving plate structures unaffected.

Herein various AgCl microstructures including octapods, octapods with fishbone pods, hexapods, hexapods with 4-blade arrowhead pods, concave octahedra, and octahedra are selectively precipitated from a [Ag(NH3)2]+ solution by addition of Cl−.