Investigation of the performance of thermally generated gold nanoislands for LSPR and SERS applications

•The performance of thermally generated gold nanoislands was investigated for LSPR and SERS sensing applications.•The geometrical parameters of the nanoisland arrangements were measured using SEM and were compared with their sensing properties.•An exponential relationship between the bulk refractive index sensitivity and the gap/diameter ratio was established.•Relationships between the fabrication parameters of the nanoislands and their LSPR and SERS performance were also established•Suggestions for optimal fabrication parameters for better LSPR sensitivities and improved Raman intensities are given.

In this work, the performance of gold nanoislands was investigated for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) applications. Nanoislands were generated by thermally annealing thin layers of gold (having thickness in the 6-12 nm range), which was previously deposited by vacuum thermal evaporation onto glass substrates. Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were evaluated based on their plasmonic and SERS performance and morphological properties. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to measure the average particle size and average interparticle distance in order to correlate them with the obtained plasmonic/Raman capabilities. The technological parameters of nanoisland fabrication for optimal performances were also determined.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (134KB)Download full-size image