2026
Optical Materials, Q2
Article
We report an all-liquid, vacuum-free approach for fabricating hybrid metal–semiconductor platforms for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Silicon wafers were textured into upright (Pyr-Si) and inverted pyramids (IPyr-Si) by anisotropic alkaline etching and Cu-assisted chemical etching, respectively, both yielding broadband antireflective morphologies. Subsequent laser-induced deposition (LID) enabled surfactant-free decoration of these 3D morphologies with Au, Ag, and bimetallic AuAg nanoparticles directly in solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) mapping versus exposure time reveal distinct Ag/Au growth modes consistent with plasmon-assisted and substrate-assisted pathways. SERS performance was benchmarked with rhodamine 6G (R6G) down to 10−12 M, delivering an enhancement factor of ∼2.9 × 109 for Ag/IPyr-Si. Practical sensing of ketoprofen and plasmon-driven catalytic dimerization of p-aminothiophenol (PATP) were also demonstrated. Compared with conventional vacuum-based techniques, this approach minimizes air exposure, lowers costs, and delivers conformal nanoparticle coverage on complex silicon morphologies, providing a scalable route to reproducible, high-performance SERS sensors and related optoelectronic interfaces.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optmat.2026.117955