Nanoimprinted SERS-Active Substrates with Tunable Surface Plasmon Resonances

Abstract

Nanoimprint lithography and physical vapor deposition were combined to fabricate large-area homogeneously patterned SERS-active substrates with tunable surface plasmon resonances. The plasmon shift observed was connected to the surface nanotopography since (a) the SERS-active nanoparticles on all the substrates investigated were shown to be chemically and structurally similar and (b) the SERS spectra of the analyte investigated were essentially identical for all samples. In addition, the tunability of surface nanotopography was shown to boost the SERS effect via optimal coupling between the substrate's SPR and the incident laser line.