Use of gold nanoparticle containing poly (allylamine hydrochloride)/ poly (acrylic acid) multilayer films as sers substrates


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Turkey

Approval Date: 2015

Thesis Language: English

Student: BİRSU KÖLEMEN

Principal Supervisor (For Co-Supervisor Theses): Gülay Ertaş

Co-Supervisor: İrem Erel Göktepe

Abstract:

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a surface sensitive vibrational spectroscopy technique that results in the enhancement of Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on rough metal surfaces. It is a powerful, sensitive and non-destructive technique which is used in chemical, material and life sciences including biosensing, catalysis, spectroelectrochemistry, criminology, single molecule SERS applications and many others. Nanoparticle (NP) embedded multilayer films using Layer by Layer (LbL) technique is one of the types of SERS substrates that have unique properties. Herein, pH-controllable exponentially grown (rougher) and linear grown (smoother) (Poly(allylamine hydrochloride)/Poly(acrylic acid)) polyelectrolyte-NP multilayer film systems were studied for sensing benzenethiol (BT) molecule (up to 10-7M). The effects of number of polyelectrolyte layers and deposition times of gold (Au) NPs on SERS signals were studied and the enhancements in Raman signals are similar for all the studied systems. Characterizations of these surfaces are made by UV-vis Spectrometer, Zeta sizer, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Raman Spectrometer.