Cover Story 2012, Volume 7 Issue 5
Intensive investigations have been devoted to synthesizing and characterizing silver nanoparticles in recent years because of their rich optical properties raised by the surface plasmon resonances in the visible spectral range. Branched silver nanostructures have attracted people’s interests for their high surface to volume ratios and fancy shapes. These unique properties make them the promising candidates for both catalysts and substrates in surface-enhanced Raman scattering. In this issue the researchers from Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, report a facile method to prepare novel branched silver nanowire structures and demonstrate that these structures are efficient for the surface-enhanced Raman scattering application. For more detailed information, please refer to the article "A facile synthesis of branched silver nanowire structures and its applications in surface-enhanced Raman scattering" by Feng-Zi Cong et al., pp 521-526. [Photo credits: Xiao-Rui Tian, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences][Detail] ...