Background
The development of active substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) using noble metal Nanoparticles (NPs) is an important topic for the detection and characterization of chemical species at the single molecule level. Currently, the main applications of SERS substrates are focused in the fields of medicine, biology, homeland security, environmental pollution and food pollution.
In recent years, much effort has been put into developing nanoparticles with a stronger surface raman enhancement (SERS) effect. Noble metal Nanoparticles (NPs) have great advantages in developing novel biosensors for biochemical analysis of biomolecules such as proteins due to their good biocompatibility, excellent optical and electrical properties, extremely large specific surface area, and surface modification easiness. The electric field enhancement of local incident light caused by the resonance excitation of local surface plasmon polaritons (LSPR) of noble metal Nanoparticles (NPs) such as gold and silver is a main contribution mechanism of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) induction. Furthermore, it has now been determined that the LSPR morphology of NPs is tunable, allowing for an increase in the effect of noble metal components on SERS intensity. Although spherical gold and silver colloids have long been used in SERS studies, focusing is often required to create "hot spots" of electromagnetic fields, thereby increasing the strength of SERS. Although this may provide a very low detection limit, reproducibility becomes an issue when relying on aggregation. To overcome this problem, nanoparticles having inherent hot spots, such as nanorods and gold nanostars, may be used. The gold nanostars have tunable plasmons, can match excitation wavelengths, and have a plurality of distinct branches, each having an enhanced electromagnetic field (EM) at their tip, and thus have superior SERS characteristics.
Compared with the metallographic phase, silver has a larger surface plasmon resonance adjustable range, higher plasmon intensity and lower manufacturing cost. The silver-coated gold nano-star can obviously improve the local field of the nano-particles by covering the silver layer while keeping the hot spot of the gold nano-star, thereby improving the detection sensitivity. The enhancement has wide application prospect for detecting molecules by using surface enhanced Raman scattering.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the problems in the prior art, the invention provides a preparation method of silver-coated gold nano-star, which comprises the following steps:
preparing a seed solution;
adding the seed solution to HAuCl4Preparing a gold nano star solution by using the solution; and
and forming a silver coating on the surface of the gold nano-star.
In one embodiment of the invention, the citrate solution is added to the boiling HAuCl4To prepare a seed solution.
In one embodiment of the invention, 1.5mL of a 1% citrate solution is added to 10mL of boiling 0.001M HAuCl with stirring at 700rpm4To prepare a seed solution, and after 15 minutes the solution was cooled.
In one embodiment of the present invention, preparing the gold nanostar solution comprises adding a seed solution to HAuCl4Adding acid to adjust the pH value of the solution to acidity, adding a reducing agent and an Ag + ion solution into the solution, centrifuging the obtained solution in a centrifuge, and dispersing the solution in ultrapure water.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the acid is hydrochloric acid, and the Ag + ion solution is AgNO3And (3) solution.
In one embodiment of the invention, 2mL of seed solution is added to 200mL of 2.5X 10-4M HAuCl4To the solution, 200. mu.L of 1M HCl was added, and then 400. mu.L of 0.01M AgNO was added while vigorously stirring for 30 seconds3The solution and 1mL ascorbic acid solution, and finally, the solution is centrifuged at 4000rpm for 1.5h at 4 ℃ and then redispersed in ultrapure water, wherein vigorous stirring is selected at a stirring speed of about 1200 rpm.
In one embodiment of the invention, the forming of the silver coating on the surface of the gold nano-star comprises adding silver nitrate and ascorbic acid solutions with different concentrations into the gold nano-star solution, then adding ammonia water, and uniformly mixing until the color does not change any more, so that the surface of the gold nano-star is coated with the silver layer.
In one embodiment of the invention, the transfer is to a 2mL centrifuge tube. To 0.5mL of the prepared gold nanostar solution was added 7.5. mu.L of 0.1M AgNO3And 0.1M ascorbic acid, then 3. mu.L NH was added4OH, AgNO reduction by ascorbic acid3The mixture turned black and the solution was centrifuged 10 at 4000rpm at 4 DEG CFor a minute, and then redispersed in ultrapure water.
In one embodiment of the invention, 7.5. mu.L of 0.1M AgNO was added3And 0.1M ascorbic acid can be added in multiple portions, with 10s vortexing after each addition.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the core and tips of the gold nanostars are completely covered with silver.
The embodiment of the invention discloses a method for synthesizing silver-coated gold nano-star. The gold nano-star has stronger SERS characteristic through silver coating, and meanwhile, the gold nano-star particles have better biocompatibility through silver coating, and the stability of the gold nano-star is maintained without using a surfactant, so that the silver-coated gold nano-star is applied to biomedicine, such as biosensors, biomedical imaging, medical rapid detection and the like, and a larger space is obtained.
Detailed Description
In the following description, the invention is described with reference to various embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the embodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other alternative and/or additional methods, materials, or components. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments of the invention. Similarly, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the invention. However, the invention may be practiced without specific details. Further, it should be understood that the embodiments shown in the figures are illustrative representations and are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Reference in the specification to "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
The embodiment of the invention provides a method for synthesizing silver-coated gold nano-star. The silver-coated gold nano star has stronger SERS performance. In the synthesis method of the silver-coated gold nano-star disclosed by the embodiment of the invention, a surfactant is not used, the biocompatibility is strong, and the method has the advantages of simplicity in operation, rapidness, strong repeatability, low cost and the like.
Fig. 1 illustrates a method for preparing silver-coated gold nano-star according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in fig. 1, first, at step 110, a seed solution is prepared. In one embodiment of the invention, the citrate solution may be added to the boiling HAuCl4To prepare a seed solution.
For example, in one example, 1.5mL of a 1% citrate solution is added to 10mL of boiling 0.001M (mol/L) HAu with stirring at 700rpmCl4To prepare a seed solution, and after 15 minutes the solution was cooled. The citrate can be sodium citrate or the like.
In this step, AuCl in solution4 -The ions are reduced under the action of citrate radicals to generate gold nanospheres with the diameter of about 5nm, and the gold nanospheres are used as seeds for the growth of the gold nanostars.
Next, at step 120, the seed solution is added to HAuCl4And (4) preparing a gold nano star solution. In one embodiment of the invention, the seed solution is the core of the growth of gold nanostars. Adding seed solution to HAuCl4Adding acid to adjust pH of the solution to acidity, adding reducing agent and AgNO to the solution3And (3) solution. Reducing agent to reduce AuCl in solution4 -The ions are reduced and grow on the surface of the gold nano in the seed solution to form the gold nano star, and the Ag + ions have a catalytic action and regulate and control the number and the size of the surface branches of the gold nano star.
For example, in one example, 2mL of seed solution is added to 200mL of 2.5X 10-4M HAuCl4To the solution, 200. mu.L of 1M HCl was added. Thereafter, 400. mu.L of 0.01M AgNO was added thereto while vigorously stirring for 30 seconds3Solution and 1mL ascorbic acid solution. Ascorbic acid acts as a reducing agent. Finally, the solution was centrifuged at 4000rpm for 1.5h at 4 ℃ and then redispersed in ultrapure water to form a gold nanostar solution. The agitation speed for vigorous agitation was about 1200 rpm.
At step 130, a silver coating is formed on the surface of the gold nano-star. Specifically, silver nitrate and ascorbic acid solutions with different concentrations are added into a gold nano-star solution, then ammonia water is added, and the mixture is uniformly mixed until the color does not change any more, so that the surface of the gold nano-star is coated with a silver layer, and the silver-coated gold nano-star solution is obtained.
For example, in one example, 0.5mL of a previously prepared gold nanostar solution was transferred to a 2mL centrifuge tube. Add 7.5. mu.L of 0.1M AgNO to the tube3And 0.1M Ascorbic Acid (AA). Multiple additions were made, with 10s vortexing after each addition. Then 3. mu.L NH was added4OH due to reduction of AgNO by AA3The mixture turns black. The solution will stabilize in about 5 minutes. Finally, the solution was centrifuged at 4000rpm for 10 minutes at 4 ℃ and then redispersed in ultrapure water.
Next, the silver coating layer of the gold nanostar was studied by using ultraviolet-visible light (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy and TEM transmission electron microscopy.
Fig. 2 shows a transmission electron microscopy TEM image of gold nanostars formed by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the diameter of the gold nanostar core formed by the method of the embodiment of the present invention is 38. + -.4 nm, the length of the branch structure is in the range of 7. + -.3 nm, and the number of branches is in the range of 8. + -.4. The zeta potential of the gold nanostar particles was in the range-41.8 ± 0.98mV, due to the electronegativity of the surface for the citrate ion coverage.
Fig. 3 shows a transmission electron microscope TEM image of silver-coated gold nanostars formed by an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the core and tips of the gold nano-star are completely covered with silver.
Fig. 4 shows ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectra of gold nano-star and silver-coated gold nano-star formed by an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 shows the optical density of gold nano-star and silver-coated gold nano-star, the plasmonic peak having a blue shift from 732nm to 574nm after the gold nano-star is coated with silver, since the silver of the surface of the gold nano-star is coated.
Rhodamine 6G (R6G) was used as a model analyte to test the surface raman enhancement performance of gold and silver-coated gold nanostars. Fig. 5 shows a Surface Enhanced Raman Spectrum (SERS) of a 1 μ M solution of gold nanostars formed by an embodiment of the present invention dropped on a glass slide. Fig. 6 shows a Surface Enhanced Raman Spectrum (SERS) of a 1 μ M solution of silver-coated gold nano-star formed by an embodiment of the present invention dropped on a glass slide. As can be seen from fig. 5 and 6, the signal intensity from the silver-coated gold nano-star is an order of magnitude higher than that of the gold nano-star. 612cm-1The peak at (A) is due to the in-plane vibration of the C-C deformation, and 772cm-1The peak at (a) is associated with the out-of-plane curvature of the C-H deformation. 1184cm-1The peak at corresponds to the C-C tensile vibration, and 1312, 1362. 1511, 1573 and 1650cm-1The peak at (a) is assigned to the aromatic C-C stretching vibration. In addition, SERS Enhancement Factors (EF) of the gold nanostars and silver-coated gold nanostars were determined using 1 μ M R6G in ethanol as raman standard. Reference 1511cm-1The EF is calculated using the following formula:
wherein, ISERSAnd IRSRespectively represents the Raman signal intensity of the same peak in the SERS spectrum on the gold nanoparticle substrate and the initial Raman spectrum of the blank substrate. N is a radical ofSERSAnd NRSIndicating the number of R6G molecules attached to the substrate in the area of the laser spot. For gold nanostar substrate, EF is 4.6 × 105(ii) a For silver coated gold nanostar substrate, EF is 9.0 × 105. The EF of silver-coated gold nanostars is higher due to hot spots at the tips, silver coating and inter-particle hot spots between different particles.
The embodiment of the invention discloses a method for synthesizing silver-coated gold nano-star. The gold nano-star has stronger SERS characteristic through silver coating, and meanwhile, the gold nano-star particles have better biocompatibility through silver coating, and the stability of the gold nano-star is maintained without using a surfactant, so that the silver-coated gold nano-star is applied to biomedicine, such as biosensors, biomedical imaging, medical rapid detection and the like, and a larger space is obtained.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various combinations, modifications, and changes can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention disclosed herein should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.