Simulation and synthesis of silver dendritic nanostructures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Abstract

Silver dendritic nanostructures (AgD) is investigated for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with simulation and experiments, the simulations showed that there is a significant absorbance over a broad spectrum from the AgD, this indicated that AgD is a good candidate for SERS. The simulations helped to study the parameters of the AgD that affects the SERS and we applied these simulation results for experimental designs, in which our experimental results of synthesis and characterization results of Raman spectrum showed consistence with the simulation results. These simulation results are very helpful in deciding the experimental parameters for efficient and effective synthesizing and reproduction of hierarchical silver dendritic nanostructure. The AgD were produced using displacement redox reaction between AgNO3 solution and Copper foil. We found that the concentration of AgNO3 played major role on the rate of reaction, and the rapid growth of the silver nanostructures was observed as the reaction time increases. The structural and morphological evolution of silver dendrites was examined with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The Raman enhancement of AgDs was evaluated using Elman's reagent (DTNB) and Rhodamine 6G (R6G). The silver dendrites have great potential for diverse sensing applications ranging from food safety control, environmental monitoring and assessment, forensic investigation, and to medical diagnosis.