Porous aluminium decorated with rhodium nanoparticles, preparation and use as platform for UV plasmonics

There is a high current interest for novel plasmonic platforms and materials able to extend their applicability into the ultraviolet (UV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the UV it is possible to explore spectral properties of biomolecules with small cross section in the visible spectral range. However, most used metals in plasmonics have their resonances at wavelengths > 350 nm. Aluminum and rhodium are two interesting candidate materials for UV plasmonics, and in this work we developed a simple and low-cost preparation of functional substrates based on nanoporous aluminum decorated with rhodium nanoparticles. We demonstrate that these functionalized nanoporous metal films can be exploited as plasmonic materials suitable for enhanced UV Raman spectroscopy