Electrodeposition of Ag nanosheet-assembled microsphere@Ag dendrite core–shell hierarchical architectures and their application in SERS

Abstract

Ag core–shell hierarchical microstructures, with nanosheet-assembled microspheres as the core and dendrites coated on the surface, have been synthesized by electrodeposition. The growth mechanisms of these Ag microstructures have been systematically investigated through time-dependent morphological evolution. A transformation stage from the microspheres to the dendrites was found in the morphological evolution of Ag core–shell hierarchical microstructures, which was affected by the deposition time and voltage. Therefore, we obtained various Ag core–shell hierarchical microstructures, with adjustable ratios of the microsphere cores to the dendrite shells, by controlling the deposition voltage. Furthermore, the Ag core–shell hierarchical microstructures exhibit excellent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) ability, showing great potential as effective SERS substrates.