A new plasmonic device made of gold nanoparticles and temperature responsive polymer brush on a silicon substrate.

This paper reports a general stepwise route assembling interface-mediated RAFT polymerization of 2-methoxyethoxy ethyl methacrylate and conversion of dodecyl trithiocarbonate end groups to thiol groups for gold nanoparticle assemblies. We intended by this way a new plasmonic device made of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and temperature responsive [poly((2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl) methacrylate] [poly(MEO2-MA)] brush on a silicon substrate. This polymeric layer replies to temperature changing by conformational variation and is therefore able to change the distance between the Au NPs on the brush layer with 5,5-dithiobis(2-dinitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB). We show that an increment of the external temperature reversibly stimulates a significant increase of the DTNB SERS signal.