Complete separation of macroscopic rod-like bimetallic nanoassembly perpendicular and parallel on substrate for simultaneous sensing of microorganisms.

Although two kinds of macroscopic ordered tridimensional nanoassemblies, i.e., alignment of nanorods, can be yielded by controllable droplet evaporation methods, complete separation of the nanoassembly perpendicular or parallel to substrate is quite challenging. It can, however, be realized by the aid of facet blocking combined with the tuning of ionic strength and colloidal concentration. The as-fabricated rod-like bimetallic nanoassembly has proved to be an excellent SERS active substrate compared to random aggregates. It should be mentioned that macroscopic ordered tridimensional nanoassembly perpendicular to the substrate can be used as a highly active SERS substrate with good uniformity and can be successfully applied for finely discriminating two microorganisms: Escherichia coli bacteria and Saccharomycetes.