Carbon dots as reductants to fabricate three-dimensional Au mesoflowers as SERS substrates

Abstract Reductive carbon dots (CDs) were obtained by a hydrothermal method using citric acid and diethylenetriamine as carbon sources. Three-dimensional Au mesoflowers (3D Au MFs) could be fabricated by directly mixing HAuCl4 and CD solution without using any extra reductant and morphology-directing reagent. The as-obtained 3D Au MFs exhibited high surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) activity in detection of methylene blue.