Chitosan supported silver nanostructures as surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensor: Spectroscopic and density functional theory insights.

In this work, nanostructures comprising silver nanoparticles supported on a wrinkled chitosan matrix (Ag@Ch) were successfully synthesized by a simple aging process at room temperature for four days through self-assembly. Chitosan, a natural polysaccharide was used as a support as well as a reducing agent for the formation of Ag nanostructures and the creation of hotspots for SERS activity. The fabricated Ag@Ch nanostructures were characterized by several spectroscopic techniques and were used as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate.