Enhanced Raman relies heavily on finding ideal hot-spot regions which enable significant enhancement factors. In
addition, the termed “chemical enhancement” aspect of SERS is often neglected due to its relatively low enhancement
factors, in comparison to those of electromagnetic (EM) nature. Using a metal-semiconductor hybrid system, with the
addition of induced surface oxygen vacancy defects, both EM and chemical enhancement pathways can be utilized on
cheap reusable surfaces. Two metal-oxide semiconductor thin films, WO3 and TiO2, were used as a platform for
investigating size dependent effects of Au nanoparticles (NPs) for SERS (surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy) and
PIERS (photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy – UV pre-irradiation for additional chemical enhancement)
detection applications. A set concentration of spherical Au NPs (5, 50, 100 and 150 nm in diameter) was drop-cast on preirradiated metal-oxide substrates. Using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA) as a Raman reporter molecule, a significant
dependence on the size of nanoparticle was found. The greatest surface coverage and ideal distribution of AuNPs was
found for the 50 nm particles during SERS tests, resulting in a high probability of finding an ideal hot-spot region.
However, more significantly a strong dependence on nanoparticle size was also found for PIERS measurements –
completely independent of AuNP distribution and orientation affects – where 50 nm particles were also found to generate
the largest PIERS enhancement. The position of the analyte molecule with respect to the metal-semiconductor interface
and position of generated oxygen vacancies within the hot-spot regions was presented as an explanation for this result
