Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles through the Soft Template Method and their Applications to Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Silver Nanoparticles has been prepared using the complex of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a template and used as SERS substrate. The effect of the ratio of CMC to PVP on silver nanoparticles was discussed. Silver Nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that the ratio of CMC to PVP plays a crucial role in the performance of nanoparticles. TEM studies reveal that particles are mostly near-spherical in shape with an average size of 60-70 nm. The SERS enhancement of these silver nanoparticles was tested by using Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a probe molecule. The silver nanoparticles prepared with the complex of CMC and PVP as a template have been shown to provide strong enhancements in the SERS spectrum of R6G. Keywords: Carboxymethyl cellulose; Polyvinylpyrrolidone; Surface-enhanced Raman scattering; silver; Template