One-step wet-chemical synthesis of gold nanoflower chains as highly active surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates

Well-defined gold nanoflower chains (Au NFCs) were simply fabricated on a large scale by a rapid, surfactant-free, seed-free, and template-free wet-chemical method, only with the assistance of urea. It was found that the synthesis and assembly of Au NFCs were almost simultaneously completed. The as-obtained Au nanostructures were primarily characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The possible formation mechanism was discussed. The as-fabricated Au NFCs exhibited significant surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancement using p -aminothiophenol as a bench-model probe.