Various pulsed laser deposition methods for preparation of silver-sensitised glass and paper substrates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Silver nanoparticle films on glass and paper were prepared using vacuum pulsed laser deposition, and various methods of atmospheric pulsed laser deposition, where ablated material forms a nanoparticle aerosol near the target and is delivered in a gas flow to the substrate. The performance of the films for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was investigated using a 10^–4 M aqueous solution of rhodamine 6G organic dye. The SERS sensitivity was quantified in terms of the apparent enhancement factor and the signal-to-noise ratio. For the films made by supersonic atmospheric pulsed laser deposition, the apparent enhancement factor was found to be 15,000, which is 150 times higher than the value for a commercial silver nanoparticle paper-based substrate. This study demonstrates the utility of atmospheric pulsed laser deposition for the fabrication of noble metal nanoparticle films, and offers new approaches to tailoring the particle morphology for high SERS performance.