Hydrothermal synthesis of carbon quantum dots with size tunability heterogeneous nucleation.

Hydrothermal synthesis has been extensively utilized for fabricating carbon quantum dots (CQDs). Generally, the average sizes of the CQDs are controlled by using specific precursor concentrations, processing temperatures, and reaction times. In our study, the average size of CQDs can simply be controlled by using a different filling volume of sucrose solution in the hydrothermal reactor while keeping the other experimental parameters constant.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering using silver nanocluster on anodic aluminum oxide template sensor toward protein detection.

The affordable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates, with a structure consisting of densely distributed round-shape silver nanoclusters on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template, is fabricated by magnetron sputtering and anodization processes. The physical investigations show that the silver nanoclusters with size distribution ranging from 10 to 30 nm uniformly distributed on the top and in the bottom of the AAO nanochannels. The SERS activities from adsorbed probe molecules, i.