one-step synthesis of gold nanoparticles using liquid crystal molecules for surface-enhanced raman scattering detection

Gold nanoparticles have received widespread attention as surface-enhanced raman scattering (sers) detection active substrates. in this work, we used the nematic liquid crystal molecule n-(4-methoxybenzylidene)-4-butylaniline (mbba) at room temperature to synthesize liquid crystal (lc)-au nanoparticles in one step without adding any other reducing agents or stabilizers. gold nanoparticles synthesized by this method have good sensitivity and stability as a sers substrate. the nanoparticles can detect rhodamine 6g (r6g) molecules with a concentration as low as 10−8 m, and the sers signal does not decrease significantly in 30 days. using this synthesis principle, we grew gold nanoparticles in a capillary in one step. we expect the proposed method to result in a highly efficient and portable sers substrate after subsequent improvements.