Building Highly Selective Hot Spots in Ag Nanoparticles Using Bifunctional Viologens: Application to the SERS Detection of PAHs

The application of viologen dications in the creation of highly sensitive and selective hot spots between silver nanoparticles is reported in the present work. A method to follow the existence of such hot spots in macroscopic samples is proposed based on the plasmon absorption of these nanoparticles in suspension. The method was applied in the case of detection of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pyrene, confirming the great ability of viologens, in the increasing of the sensitivity and selectivity of the SERS technique, as both hot spot inducers and host molecules.

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