Boron Nitride Nanosheet Veiled Gold Nanoparticles for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel SERS substrate using atomically thin boron nitride nanosheets covering gold nanoparticles, enhancing sensitivity, reproducibility, and reusability for practical applications.

Contribution

First demonstration of BN nanosheets covering gold nanoparticles to improve SERS performance and enable scalable, reusable substrates.

Findings

Enhanced SERS sensitivity and reproducibility

BN nanosheets act as an insulating barrier and adsorption layer

Scalable production of BN-covered SERS substrates

Abstract

Atomically thin boron nitride (BN) nanosheets have many properties desirable for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). BN nanosheets have a strong surface adsorption capability towards airborne hydrocarbon and aromatic molecules. For maximized adsorption area and hence SERS sensitivity, atomically thin BN nanosheet covered gold nanoparticles have been prepared for the first time. When placed on top of metal nanoparticles, atomically thin BN nanosheets closely follow their contours so that the plasmonic hot spots are retained. Electrically insulating BN nanosheets also act as a barrier layer to eliminate metal-induced disturbance in SERS. Moreover, the SERS substrates veiled by BN nanosheets show an outstanding reusability in the long term. As the result, the sensitivity, reproducibility and reusability of SERS substrates can be greatly improved. We also demonstrate that large BN nanosheets produced by chemical vapor deposition can be used to scale up the proposed SERS substrate for practical application.