Preparation of Au-Ag Nanoframe and its Application in SERS

A simple and facile preparation approach of gold-silver nanoframes is described based on triangular silver nanoplates. HAuCl4 was used as etching agent and added to boiling nanoplates suspension under stirring. Especially, when different concentrations of HAuCl4 was employed, various etching happened and corresponding morphology of gold-silver nanoframes were acquired. The properties of nanoframes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis spectra. Then the nanoframes were self-assembled onto the silicon treated with APTMS and used as SERS substrates for detecting p-ATP molecules. The results indicated that nanoframes showed better SERS effects than nanoplates.