Investigation of PDMS-gold nanoparticle composite films for plasmonic sensors

Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-gold nanoparticle composite films were synthetized in situ by using a simple method based on the reduction of chloroauric acid (HAuCh) by the PDMS membrane. The technological parameters which affect the gold nanoparticle formation on the membrane (namely the concentration of the HAuCh solution, the ratio of curing agent, the incubation time and the temperature) were investigated, the resulting nanoparticle films were characterized with optical spectrophotometry. The possibility to utilize the nanocomposite membranes as sensing elements in plasmonics sensors (based on localised surface plasmon resonance - LSPR) and as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates is discussed in detail.