Electrochemical deposition of silver nanoparticles in multiwalled carbon nanotube-alumina-coated silica for surface-enhanced Raman scattering-active substrates

The work presents a novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active surface prepared by electrochemical deposition of silver nanoparticles in multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–alumina-coated silica (ACS) nanocomposite. The formation of Ag nanoparticles in MWCNT–ACS nanocomposite was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. It shows that Ag nanoparticles with a diameter of about 100–200 nm in the MWCNT–ACS nanocomposite and some Ag nanoparticles aggregated to form interconnected aggregates. The Ag–MWCNT–ACS-coated indium tin oxide substrate has a considerable effect on the Raman spectra with improvements of more than four times of magnitude as compared with the Ag-coated indium tin oxide substrate. The present methodology demonstrates that the composite composed of Ag, MWCNT, and ACS is suitable for potential plasmonic devices.