Overview

• The method sandwiches a super-thin metal film between a substrate and a PDMS layer during heating to drive uniform nanoparticle formation.
• Nanoparticles exhibit tightly packed densities with nanometer-scale gaps and remain pure and stable under ambient conditions.
• Samples show strong localized surface plasmon resonance and surface-enhanced Raman scattering signals for advanced optical sensing.
• In trials with a probe molecule, the particles detected concentrations as low as one picomolar, surpassing conventional sensor sensitivity.
• Backed by DST’s NM-ICPS and SERB funding, the team plans to scale up the versatile process across metals and substrates for biomedical and environmental applications.