Synthesis of Gold Nanoshuttles as Efficient Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate for Malachite Green Detection

In this paper, we report the synthesis and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications of gold nanoshuttles (GNSs). We used the conventional cylindrical gold nanorods (GNRs) with rounded ends as the starting materials, which evolved into the overgrowth, fabricating the GNSs with sharp ends. Compared with the GNRs, the GNSs have much stronger extinction intensity at the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance peak, and exhibit much higher SERS activity. By fabricating a paper- based SERS substrate by immobilizing the GNSs into a filter paper, the obtained GNSspaper substrate demonstrates high SERS sensitivity in the detection of malachite green. All these results demonstrate the GNSs a really excellent choice for a variety of SERS- based applications such as food safety, environmental monitoring, and homeland security.