High Performance Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate Combining Low Dimensional and Hierarchical Nanostructures

We demonstrate that hierarchical nanostructured metal sub-microtubes with evenly distributed nanoscale pores on sidewalls can be synthesized though electrodeposition of metals on electrospun fiber templates and subsequent wet etching. Due to the hierarchical nanostructure and uniform "hot spots" on sidewalls, these porous sub-microtubes exhibit higher surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activities than both smooth metal sub-microtubes and nanoporous thin films. The synthetic process is simple, inexpensive, and effective, and therefore is a suitable methodology for large-scale production of reliable and reproducible SERS substrates.