Issue 3, 2015

Three-dimensional plasmonic hydrogel architecture: facile synthesis and its macroscale effective space

Abstract

A three dimensional (3D) hydrogel SERS substrate decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) was fabricated by in situ reduction of Ag+ ions in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) network. This offered tuneable, easily-operational and extremely homogeneous SERS 3D substrates composed of uniformly distributed Ag NPs. Due to its good light penetration, a macro effective space with a depth of more than one hundred micrometres in this translucent 3D network was confirmed by slice observation and depth scanning techniques. Such macro effective space may come from harvesting plasmonic effects between active Ag NP couplings in all of the x, y, and z directions, resulting in a great average field within the whole substrate region. Due to its large effective depth, the 3D hydrogel is more sensitive and more tolerant toward an out-of-focus laser position in trace detection of the sample. The free-standing and flexible structure is also employed in environmental analysis by using a portable Raman instrument, showing its promising potential for real applications.

Graphical abstract: Three-dimensional plasmonic hydrogel architecture: facile synthesis and its macroscale effective space

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Oct 2014
Accepted
18 Nov 2014
First published
18 Nov 2014

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 2231-2238

Author version available

Three-dimensional plasmonic hydrogel architecture: facile synthesis and its macroscale effective space

L. Ouyang, L. Zhu, J. Jiang, W. Xie and H. Tang, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 2231 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA13293A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements