Ultrasonic-assisted synthesis of highly defined silver nanodimers by self-assembly for improved surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Considerable research efforts have been devoted to surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), due to its excellent performance in biosensing and imaging. Here, a novel and facile strategy for the fabrication of well-defined and uniform nanodimers as SERS substrates is presented. By the assistance of ultrasound, the violent polyol process for particle generation becomes controllable, enabling the self-assembly of nanostars to nanodimers. Moreover, the aggregation of nanodimers can be easily tuned by post-ultrasonic treatment, which gives a sensitive substrate for SERS.