Nanoplasmonic Au nanodot arrays as an SERS substrate for biomedical applications

We demonstrate the preparation of gold nanodot arrays with nanoplasmonic structures for a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrate. The substrate was based on an anodized aluminum oxide template with various gold layer thicknesses. The activity of gold nanodot arrays as substrates was experimentally verified using Rhodamine B as an analyte. The experimental data showed increased enhancement as a function of Au layer thickness. The nanoplasmonic gold nanodot array structure presented in this study will allow for simple, low-cost fabrication of highly reproducible and uniform SERS substrate over a large area without the requirement for high resolution lithography. We demonstrated that gold nanodot arrays can be used as a platform for label-free RNA detection using SERS. This result could lead to the development of a nucleic acid diagnostic tool for biomedical applications using SERS detection.