Interfacial self-assembly approach of plasmonic nanostructures for efficient SERS and recyclable catalysts applications

We report on a simple and general interfacial self-assembly approach to fabricate plasmonic superlattice sheets in extremely large scale, which can be up to ca. 50 cm2, based on different types of noble metal nanoparticles. The self-assembled nanofilms exhibit exciting plasmonic properties with mirror-like reflectance, represented by vivid colour changes. More important, such superlattice sheets can be easily transferred and explored as highly efficient Shape-dependent Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering(SERS) substrates, as well as flexible and recyclable shape-dependent substrate-supporting nanocatalysts sheets. The conversion of 4-NPH were kept as high as 95% after the nanocatalyst sheets were used for six cycles. The interfacial self-assembly method can be exploited for develop-ment of optical and nanocatalysts devices such as flexible colour filters, molecular sensors and flexible plasmonic nanofilms.