Assembly of dandelion-like Au/PANI nanocomposites and their application as SERS nanosensors

The monodisperse, uniform dandelion-like Au/polyaniline (PANI) composite nanospheres were synthesized by a simple one-step process without any additives or templates. The nanospheres are really composed of many short nanorods and the average diameter of whole nanospheres is about 180 nm. The morphology of Au/PANI composites could be controlled by adjusting the molar ratio of HAuCl4 to aniline. The prepared nanocomposite is developed as a wonderful sensor for the detection of Hg2+ ions, which is based upon the Raman intensity response of PANI to Hg2+ ions. Results from the morphology-dependent sensitivity investigations show that the dandelion-like nanospheres have an ultra sensitive response (as low as 10−11 M) compared with other morphologies. The nanosensor also exhibits good reproducibility and greater selectivity for Hg2+ ions than the other heavy metal ions. And the mechanism was proposed. The proposed nanosensors can be applied for highly sensitive and selective chemical analysis in a variety of environmental detection.