Microwave synthesis of Au nanoparticles as promising SERS substrates

A novel method for rapidly synthesized Au colloidal under microwave irradiation was present in this paper. Size of the Au nanoparticles varied from 10 nm to 60 nm along with varying mol fractions by chloroauric acid solution reduced with sodium citrate. The prepared Au nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer. It is found that the nanoparticle size and shape are highly dependent on the reaction time and the molar ratios of the reducing agent. By the SERS measurements of R6G, 4-MBA and Crystal violet, this Au colloid is shown to be an excellent SERS substrate with good stability. As the fabrication process of this SERS substrate is simple and inexpensive, this method may be used in large-scale preparation of substrates that can serve as an ideal SERS substrate in biomedical application.