A Simple Fabrication of Au/ZnO-Nanoflower Substrate for High-Efficiency SERS Detection

In this study, we present a simple fabrication method of high-efficiency Au/ZnO-nanoflowers as Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) substrates. The substrates were prepared by depositing gold on hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanoflowers, which exhibit a significantly improved SERS performance when compared to ZnO nanoflowers alone due to the involvement of multiple physical mechanisms. This proposed fabrication approach not only enables the development of Au/ZnO-nanoflowers-based SERS substrate but also advances the exploration of the noble-semiconductor heterojunction SERS platforms. This research paves the way for the enhanced sensitivity and applicability of SERS-based analytical techniques in biomedical and other fields.