Silver Double Nanorings with Circular Hot Zone

• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c04419
• Publication Date: 2020-06-12T16:07:27Z
• Authors: Sungjae Yoo; Junghwa Lee; Jeongwon Kim; Jae-Myoung Kim; MohammadNavid Had...; Sungwoo Lee; Sungwoo Choi; Doojae Park; Jwa-Min Nam; Sungho Park
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Silver double nanorings with circular intra-nanogaps between two nanorings of different diameters were synthesized without a linker molecule to confine an incident electromagnetic field in a single entity. We used on-demand, rational, and systematic multi-stepwise reactions consisting of (1) selective etching of gold, (2) rim-on deposition of platinum, (3) eccentric growth of gold, and (4) concentric growth of silver. The resulting silver double nanorings exhibited a high degree of homogeneity in both shape and size, with strongly coupled circular hot zones (or "hot halos", referring to the circular intra-nanogaps capable of focusing the near electromagnetic field) resulting from strong surface plasmon coupling between the inner and outer nanorings. Remarkably, these silver double nanorings exhibited strong, stable, and reproducible single-particle surface-enhanced Raman scattering signals without blinking. The signals appeared independently of polarization directions, which is a unique feature of a circular hot halo. The estimated enhancement factor was between 2 × 108 and 7 × 108. The measured limit of detection was 10-7 M in bulk concentration, and the signal appeared 570 s after sample exposure.