Excellent surface enhanced Raman properties of titanate nanotube-dopamine-Ag triad through efficient substrate design and LSPR matching

In this work, a novel triad nanocomposites containing trititanate nanotubes, Ag nanoparticles and dopamine were prepared and the SERS properties were measured experimentally. Control over the size and position of the Ag nanoparticles in the TiNT-dop-Ag system, along with the localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the Ag particles matching the Raman excitation wavelength, gives a SERS enhancement greater than 6 orders of magnitude. Electromagnetic modelling was used to provide a theoretical basis for these results.