Kim, Changwook Baek, Seunghwa Ryu, Yunha Kim, Yeonhong Shin, Dongheok Lee, Chang-Won Park, Wounjhang Urbas, Augustine M. Kang, Gumin Kim, Kyoungsik 2024-01-19T21:34:07Z 2024-01-19T21:34:07Z 2021-09-05 2018-10 2045-2322 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/120856 We investigate the optical properties and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) characteristics of metal-coated silica aerogels. Silica aerogels were fabricated by easily scalable sol-gel and supercritical drying processes. Metallic nanogaps were formed on the top surface of the nanoporous silica network by controlling the thickness of the metal layer. The optimized metallic nanogap structure enabled strong confinement of light inside the gaps, which is a suitable property for SERS effect. We experimentally evaluated the SERS enhancement factor with the use of benzenethiol as a probe molecule. The enhancement factor reached 7.9 x 10(7) when molecules were adsorbed on the surface of the 30 nm silver-coated aerogel. We also theoretically investigated the electric field distribution dependence on the structural geometry and substrate indices. On the basis of FDTD simulations, we concluded that the electric field was highly amplified in the vicinity of the target analyte owing to a combination of the aerogel's ultralow refractive index and the high-density metallic nanogaps. The aerogel substrate with metallic nanogaps shows great potential for use as an inexpensive, highly sensitive SERS platform to detect environmental and biological target molecules. English Nature Publishing Group Large-scale nanoporous metal-coated silica aerogels for high SERS effect improvement Article 10.1038/s41598-018-33539-z 1 Scientific Reports, v.8 Scientific Reports 8 Y scie scopus 000447083100035 2-s2.0-85054779768 Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology - Other Topics Article ENHANCED RAMAN-SPECTROSCOPY SURFACE-PLASMON RESONANCE SENSITIVITY ENHANCEMENT OPTICAL-PROPERTIES REFRACTIVE-INDEX FILMS SCATTERING BENZENETHIOL SENSORS AU