Rapid synthesis of monodisperse Au nanospheres through a laser irradiation-induced shape conversion, self-assembly and their electromagnetic coupling SERS enhancement.

We develop a facile and effective strategy to prepare monodispersed Au spherical nanoparticles by two steps. Large-scale monocrystalline Au nanooctahedra with uniform size were synthesized by a polyol-route and subsequently Au nanoparticles were transformed from octahedron to spherical shape in a liquid under ambient atmosphere by non-focused laser irradiation in very short time. High monodispersed, ultra-smooth gold nanospheres can be obtained by simply optimizing the laser fluence and irradiation time. Photothermal melting-evaporation model was employed to get a better understanding of the morphology transformation for the system of nanosecond pulsed-laser excitation. These Au nanoparticles were fabricated into periodic monolayer arrays by self-assembly utilizing their high monodispersity and perfect spherical shape. Importantly, such Au nanospheres arrays demonstrated very good SERS enhancement related to their periodic structure due to existence of many SERS hot spots between neighboring Au nanospheres caused by the electromagnetic coupling in an array. These gold nanospheres and their self-assembled arrays possess distinct physical and chemical properties. It will make them as an excellent and promising candidate for applying in sensing and spectroscopic enhancement, catalysis, energy, and biology.