Self-assembly of various Au nanocrystals on functionalized water-stable PVA/PEI nanofibers: a highly efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates with high density of "hot" spots.

We have demonstrated a facile approach for the fabrication of flexible and reliable sulfydryl functionalized PVA/PEI nanofibers with excellent water stability for the self-assembly of Au nanocrystals, such as Au nanoparticles (AuNPs), Au nanoflowers (AuNFs) and Au nanorods (AuNRs), used as the highly efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for the detection of rhodamine B (RhB). Various methods were employed to cross-link the PVA nanofibers with better morphology and porous structures after immersing in water for desired times. Various SERS-active Au nanocrystals, such as AuNPs, AuNFs, and AuNRs have been successfully synthesized. After the grafting of MPTES on the cross-linked PVA/PEI nanofibers, the Au nanocrystals can easily be self-assembled on the surfaces of the nanofibers because of the strong interactions of the Au-S chemical bondings. The Au nanocrystals self-assembled throughout the PVA/PEI nanofibers used as SERS substrates all exhibit enhanced SERS signals of RhB compared with their individual nanocrystals. It is mainly due to the close interparticle distance, mutual orientation and high density of "hot" spots, that can strongly affect the overall optical response and the SERS enhancement. By changing the amounts of the self-assembled AuNFs on the nanofibers, we can control the density of the "hot" spots. With the increased amounts of the AuNFs throughout the nanofibers, the SERS substrates show enhanced Raman signals of the RhB, indicating that the increased density of "hot" spots can directly lead to the SERS enhancement. The AuNFs/(PVA/PEI) SERS substrates show good sensitivity, reliability and low detection limit (10(-9) M). The presented approach can be broadly applicable to the assembly of different types of plasmonic nanostructures and these novel materials with strong SERS enhancement can be applied in bioanalysis and biosensors.