Multiple plasmonic hot spots platform: Nanogap coupled gold nanoparticles

Au-polymer-Au nanogap ( Au-P-Au)-coupled gold nanoparticle (Au NP) platforms are fabricated via a combination of nanoskiving and polymer-assisted assembly. The structure consists of multiple types of nanogaps, specified as nanogaps within Au-P-Au, narrow nanogaps between assembled Au NPs, and nanogaps between Au NPs and the edge of the nanogap. The electric field is strongly enhanced in the nanogaps due to the confinement of incident light, generating multiple “hot spots”. The Au-P-Au-coupled Au NP platform promotes a significant surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance, achieving a maximum enhancement factor of 1.36 × 10 8 and a sensitive detection of glucose. The united nanofabrication technology for Au-P-Au-coupled Au NP platforms with a considerable SERS enhancement would facilitate the applications of nonlinear optics, nano-photonics, and surface-enhanced spectroscopy.