Assembly of polymer-gold nanostructures with high reproducibility into a monolayer film SERS substrate with 5 nm gaps for pesticide trace detection.

A very simple and versatile polymer assembly approach was developed. We use methoxy-mercapto-poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG-SH) to conjugate multiple Au shapes to form dense Au monolayer films (MLFs) with 5 nm gaps and generate gigantic enhancement. The results of the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method to calculate the local electric field distribution of the nanoparticle dimer are in agreement with the experimental data of sensitivity of multiple Au MLFs. 3D Raman spectra, relative standard deviation (RSD) calculation and Raman mapping were used to study the high-reproducibility of the assembled substrate, which is sufficient for trace pesticide residue detection.