Colloidal AgCl induced-growth of thorny gold nanoparticles and their SERS activity

In this paper, we exploited a unique procedure for obtaining thorny gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with controllable length of thorns without using seeds and surfactants. A larger number of Ag⁺ ions was added into the reaction system containing with HAuCl₄ and NH₂OH·HCl, so as to forming colloidal AgCl. AgCl could induce the growth of thorny Au NPs. The morphology of Au NPs changed from short-thorns, longthorns to no-thorns, as the amount of AgNO₃ increased. The obtained Au NPs exhibited shapedetermined surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) activity toward rhodamine 6G (R6G), indicating their potential for use in SERS-based detections and analysis.