Facile synthesis of chitosan-mediated gold nanoflowers as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates

Metal nanoflowers are the most attractive substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) due to many hot-spots on their surfaces. This paper worked on the facile fabrication of gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) through the reduction of HAuCl4 with ascorbic acid in the presence of chitosan polymers. The resulting AuNFs exhibited controllable size, morphology, and plasmon-derived absorption by adjusting the chitosan concentration, pH of the solution, and dosage amounts of ascorbic acid. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns showed face-centered cubic (fcc) structure for these nanoflowers. As-prepared AuNFs were successfully employed as an active SERS substrate in the sensitive detection of 2-chlorothiophenol (10−4 M).

► Gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) were facilely prepared in the presence of chitosan polymers.
► As-prepared AuNFs exhibited a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystal structure.
► The AuNFs were successfully employed as an active SERS substrate for CTP (10−4 M).