Abstract:The sodium citrate-reduction method was adopted to prepare gold nanoparticle sols (three sizes) and one silver nanoparticle sol as Raman surface enhancers, and their size, granularity, dispersity, and stability were determined by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Raman signal enhancement effect was analyzed by testing three β agonists: clorprenaline hydrochloride, terbutaline sulfate, and bambuterol hydrochloride. The results demonstrated that gold and silver nanoparticle sols showed no interference in the enhanced Raman signals from the surface-enhanced Raman scattering of the three β agonists. The size of the gold nanoparticles had an impact on sol absorptivity, which could be adjusted easily by adding sodium citrate, while the size of the silver nanoparticles was not easy to control. The gold sol could remain stable for a long period, while precipitation could easily occur in the silver sol. However, after binding with the target molecules, the silver nanoparticles could produce stronger resonance phenomena and exhibit a stronger surface enhancement effect than the gold nanoparticles. Therefore, it was more effective on the Raman signal enhancement of target molecules.
