Gulay Ertas

Tunable surface plasmon resonance on an elastomeric substrate

In this study, we demonstrate that periods of metallic gratings on elastomeric substrates can be tuned with external strain and hence are found to control the resonance condition of surface plasmon polaritons. We have excited the plasmon resonance on the elastomeric grating coated with gold and silver. The grating period is increased up to 25% by applying an external mechanical strain. The tunability of the elastomeric substrate provides the opportunity to use such gratings as efficient surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates. Its been demonstrated that the Raman signal can be maximized by applying an external mechanical strain to the elastomeric grating.

Plasmonic band gap structures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) of rhodamine 6G (R6G) adsorbed on biharmonic metallic grating structures was studied. Biharmonic metallic gratings include two different grating components, one acting as a coupler to excite surface plasmon polaritons (SPP), and the other forming a plasmonic band gap for the propagating SPPs. In the vicinity of the band edges, localized surface plasmons are formed. These localized plasmons strongly enhance the scattering efficiency of the Raman signal emitted on the metallic grating surfaces. It was shown that reproducible Raman scattering enhancement factors of over 10(5) can be achieved by fabricating biharmonic SERS templates using soft nano-imprint technique. We have shown that the SERS activities from these templates are tunable as a function of plasmonic resonance conditions. Similar enhancement factors were also measured for directional emission of photoluminescence. At the wavelengths of the plasmonic absorption peak, directional enhancement by a factor of 30 was deduced for photoluminescence measurements.

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for resistance-capacitance measurements of surface structures

In x-ray photoemission measurements, differential charging causes the measured binding energy difference between the Si 2p of the oxide and the silicon substrate to vary nonlinearly as a function of the applied external dc voltage stress, which controls the low-energy electrons going into and out of the sample. This nonlinear variation is similar to the system where a gold metal strip is connected to the same voltage stress through an external 10 Mohm series resistor and determined again by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We utilize this functional resemblance to determine the resistance of the 4 nm SiO2 layer on a silicon substrate as 8 Mohm. In addition, by performing time-dependent XPS measurements (achieved by pulsing the voltage stress), we determine the time constant for charging∕discharging of the same system as 2.0 s. Using an equivalent circuit, consisting of a gold metal strip connected through a 10 Mohm series resistor and a 56 nF parallel capacitor, and performing time-dependent XPS me...

Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric determination of gold by vapor formation and in situ trapping in graphite tubes.

Gold was determined in ore samples following generation, separation, collection on a graphite cuvette inner wall, and atomization of its volatile species formed by combining an acidified sample solution with an aqueous sodium tetrahydroborate solution at room temperature. A detection limit of 2.6 μg L−1 (3σ) was obtained with a 5.0 mL sample volume. Precision of replicate measurements was typically 10% RSD. The overall efficiency of the volatile species generation, transport, and trapping process was 0.4%. Atomization of gold from Pd, Ir, Cu, Ag, and W coated graphite cuvettes, following by trapping of the gaseous volatile gold species on these surfaces, has been investigated. Pd coating was found to decrease the sensitivity. Five μg of Ir, 20 μg of Cu, 20 μg of Ag, and 5 μg of W were chosen as optimum masses. W treatment was the best one for sensitivity enhancement, having an improvement factor of 2.4. Silanization of glass surfaces significantly decreased memory effects; improved peak shapes were thus obtained for flow injection vapor generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-VGAAS). The method described in this study was used for the determination of gold in an ore reference material, Gold Ore (MA-1b), Canadian Reference Materials Program.

Interference Effect of Iron on the Determination of Gold in Geological Samples Using the Vapor Generation Technique and Preconcentration in a Graphite Furnace

A vapor generation procedure for the production of volatile species of Au was studied using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). The interference effects of iron in solution and in the gas phase in a quartz T-tube were studied for the first time in detail. A dual vapor generation system was used for a single heated quartz tube atomizer, so that it was possible to study interferences and classify them regarding their origins. Results show that both gas-phase and liquid-phase interferences are present. It was also concluded that since the total interference effect causes the Au signal to be lower as compared to only the presence of gas-phase interactions in the experiment, the net liquid-phase interference from Fe should be suppressed. The method described in this study was used for the determination of gold in an ore reference material, Carlin Ore Mine, for the purpose of demonstrating the ability of the reported method to determine Au without any extraction procedure.

Growth of branched gold nanoparticles on solid surfaces and their use as surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates

Branched gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized directly on surfaces of three different supports (silicon, glass, indium tin oxide (ITO)) by following a “seed-mediated” method. Growth of the nanostructures in high yield and all with branched morphology was achieved on all surfaces. Nanostructures with desired characteristics were synthesized by determining the optimum seed size (8 nm Au nanospheres) and pH (3.00) of the growth solution. The Au NPs synthesized under these conditions have branched morphologies with average sizes of ca. 450 nm and are well dispersed on the support surface. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy studies were performed using Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a probe molecule. The results revealed strong SERS activity of the synthesized Au NPs for the detection of R6G in concentrations as low as 1 nM with an enhancement factor (EF) estimated as greater than 8 orders of magnitude.

SiC Substrate Effects on Electron Transport in the Epitaxial Graphene Layer

Hall effect measurements on epitaxial graphene (EG) on SiC substrate have been carried out as a function of temperature. The mobility and concentration of electrons within the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the EG layers and within the underlying SiC substrate are readily separated and characterized by the simple parallel conduction extraction method (SPCEM). Two electron carriers are identified in the EG/SiC sample: one high-mobility carrier (3493 cm2/Vs at 300 K) and one low-mobility carrier (1115 cm2/Vs at 300 K). The high mobility carrier can be assigned to the graphene layers. The second carrier has been assigned to the SiC substrate.

Concentric Ring Structures as Efficient SERS Substrates

Plasmonic nanopatterned structures that can work as highly efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates are presented in this study. A “coupled” concentric ring structure has been designed, fabricated, tuned, and compared to an “etched” concentric ring structure and plain gold film via SERS experiments. The proposed design gives Raman signal intensity 630 times larger than plain gold film and 8 times larger than an “etched” concentric ring structure. The surface plasmons were imaged with the fluorescence imaging technique and supporting numerical simulations were done.

Analysis of surface structures using XPS with external stimuli

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, XPS, due to the perfect match of its probe length (1-10 nm) to nanoparticle size, chemical specificity, and susceptibility to electrical charges, is ideally suited for harvesting chemical, physical and electrical information from nanosized surface structures. In addition, by recording XPS spectra while applying external d.c. and/or pulsed voltage stimuli, it is also possible to control the extent of charging and extract various analytical information. In the simplest form, application of a static (d.c.) voltage stimuli enhances separation of otherwise overlapping peaks of gold nanoparticles from that of metallic gold. When the voltage stimuli is applied in the form of rectangular pulses, dynamic information is obtained from the frequency dependence of the charging shifts. This enables us to better probe the composition of nanoparticles produced (i.e. silicide formation, or whether or the extent of reduction, etc.) when platinum salt is deposited on silicon substrates. Finally, by recording the data in different time windows, XPS spectra can be recorded in time-resolved fashion. Time-resolved spectra can be used to detect, locate and quantify the charges developed in various surface structures like gold(core)/ silica(shell) nanoparticles on a copper substrate.