Fried egg-like Au mesostructures grown on poly(4-vinylpyridine) brushes grafted onto graphene oxide

Abstract

The controlled growth of noble metal micro/nanostructures on graphene films is of crucial importance for high-quality surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra. In this paper, we described the in situ fabrication of different Au structures on poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) brush-grafted graphene oxide (GO). The proposed strategy is based on the use of HAuCl₄-loaded P4VP brushes grown on GO as a reaction chamber. The novel Au mesostructures with a “fried egg-like” morphology were fabricated on the surface of the GO-P4VP films using ascorbic acid (AA) as a weaker reducing agent. The obtained GO-P4VP/fried egg-like Au composites can be used as substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and exhibited good SERS sensitivity for detecting 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) molecules.