Nanoporous gold decorated with silver nanoparticles as large area efficient SERS substrate

Nanoporous gold is a very promising material platform for several plasmonic applications. Nanoporous gold can be formed by dealloying Au–Ag alloys, previously grown by means of Ag-Au co-sputtering. The optical response is completely determined by the nanostructured film features, that only depend on the initial alloy composition. It has been extensively used as SERS substrate both as thin film and nanofabricated fancy designs. Here we explore the potential application of nanoporous gold as SERS substrate as it is coupled and decorated with Ag nanoparticles. Significant enhancement has been observed in comparison with bare nanoporous film.