Investigation of the Optical Properties of Assembled Silver and Gold Nanoparticles for Creating SERS Sensors

The optical properties of silver and gold sols with different sizes of nanoparticles and the method of their chemical deposition on the surface of silicon, silica, glass, and aluminum foil were studied in order to obtain SERS substrates, promising platforms for the development of aptamer sensors and immunoassay of various pathogens. It was determined that, for operation of lasers with exciting radiation wavelengths of 532, 638, and 785 nm, it is possible to create universal SERS substrates based on colloidal solutions obtained by the liquid-phase chemical method with an average silver particle size of 40 nm and by the Leopold–Lendl method with an average size of 20 nm.