Shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman spectroscopy: Nanoparticle synthesis, characterization and applications in electrochemistry

Shell-isolated nanoparticle-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SHINERS) has been proved to expand the versatility of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It breaks the long limitation of SERS that only Au, Ag, Cu surface with nanostructure can exhibit huge Raman enhancement (with the averaged surface enhancement up to 10(6)). SHINERS has been successfully used in single crystal electrochemistry, semiconductor surface and even the detection of pesticide from a fruit or vegetable surface. In the present review, we mainly focus on the use of SHINERS in electrochemistry by our group. The key for the SHINERS method is the synthesis of the core shell nanoparticles (SHINERS NPs). Different types of SHINERS NPs with different core, shell, size and shape are fully discussed and their applications in electrochemistry are also given. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.