Facile synthesis of Ni/Au, Ni/Ag hybrid magnetic nanoparticles: New active substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering

Ni/Au and Ni/Ag hybrid magnetic nanoparticles have been prepared via a facile solution growth method, in which 1-hexadecylamine is used and can function as both reducing agent and stabilizer during the synthetic process. By reduction of Au³⁺ or Ag⁺ in the reaction system, the reduced Au or Ag nanoparticles can adhere on the surface of Ni nanoparticles to form uniform hybrid structures after Ni nanoparticles were formed. From the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrum of rhodamine 6G that obtained on the Ni/Au, Ni/Ag nanoparticles modified substrates; it is believed that the as-synthesized Ni/Au and Ni/Ag hybrid magnetic nanoparticles have great potential for high sensitive optical detection application.