Electroless deposition and surface-enhanced raman scattering application of palladium thin films on glass substrates

Abstract

In this work, we describe a very simple electroless deposition method to prepare moderate-SERS-active nanostructured Pd films deposited on the glass substrates. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the one-pot electroless method to deposit Pd nanostructures on the glass substrates. This method only requires the incubation of negatively charged glass substrates in ethanol-water mixture solutions of Pd(NO3)2 and butylamine at elevated temperatures. Pd films are then formed exclusively and evenly on glass substrates. Due to the aggregated structures of Pd, the SERS spectra of benzenethiol and organic isonitrile could be clearly identified using the Pd-coated glass as a SERS substrate. This one-step fabrication method of Pd thin film on glass is cost-effective and suitable for the mass production.