Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of nanodiamond particles on silver

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering was applied to study the nanodiamond with particles' sizes 100 and 5 mn, positioned on silver (Ag) substrate using high focused laser beam acceleration method. The nanodiamond particles suspended in distilled water were accelerated by a near infrared laser beam and attached to an Ag foil serving as the target. This allows the nanodiamond particles to be ordered, positioned, and to penetrate deep into Ag. The nanodiamond-Ag surface structure after nanoparticles/laser beam treatment was analyzed using micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Strong interaction between the nanodiamond and Ag surface can be achieved, which allows us to observe surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The most significant enhancement observed for carbon was trans-polyacetylene bands in addition to the D and G bands. The enhancement can achieve orders in magnitude both for 100 and 5 nm nanodiamonds. The selective enhancement of some composite band intensity, a characteristic feature of SERS referred to as the blinking effect, was also observed. (c) 2005 American Vacuum Society.