Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering of Benzenethiol Adsorbed on Silver-Exchanged Copper Powders

摘要

Micrometer-sized copper (μCu) powders are weakly surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active by the excitation at 632.8 nm, but nearly ineffective as a SERS substrate at 514.5 nm excitation. The SERS activity of μCu powders at both excitation wavelengths can be increased dramatically by a simple method of the galvanic exchange reaction with AgNO3 in aqueous medium. In this work, the SERS activity of the Ag-exchanged Cu powders (μCu@Ag) has been evaluated by taking a series of Raman spectra using benzenethiol (BT) as the probe molecule. It is clearly confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry that the SERS activity of μCu@Ag powders is, in fact, highly dependent on the extent of galvanic reaction.