Ag/GaN hybrid nanostructures for optoelectronics applications

Abstract

Abstract A hybrid system consisting of Ag nanoparticles dispersed on GaN nanowall network (GaN NWN) exhibits its characteristic optical properties and electronic band structure. XPS studies of this system reveal the presence of a high density of surface charge carriers due to charge transfer between the conduction bands of GaN and Ag. Surface Enhanced Raman Spectrocopy (SERS) studies show that these surface modifications increase the density of hot spots and result in an enhanced Raman signal with an enhancement factor of 107 and limit of detection of 10−10 M. Role of the optoelectronic properties of the substrate on the enhancement of SERS signal has been discussed.