Search

In this work, atomic force microscopy probes are functionalized by virtue of self-assembling monolayers of block copolymer (BCP) micelles loaded either with clusters of silver nanoparticles or bimetallic heterostructures consisting of mixed species of silver and gold nanoparticles. The resulting self-organized patterns allow coating the tips with a sort of nanometal skin made of geometrically confined nanoislands. This approach favors the reproducible engineering and tuning of the plasmonic properties of the resulting structured tip by varying the nanometal loading of the micelles. The newly conceived tips are applied for experiments of tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) spectroscopy and scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM). TERS and s-SNOM probe characterizations on several standard Raman analytes and patterned nanostructures demonstrate excellent enhancement factor with the possibility of fast scanning and spatial resolution