  In this work, ZnO nanowire arrays decorated with titanium nitride (TiN)
nanoparticles as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates is
demonstrated. ZnO nanowires were grown by hydrothermal synthesis while ~100 nm
TiN nanoparticles were obtained by grinding commercial powders for several
hours. They were then decorated on the ZnO nanowire arrays using acetone as the
medium. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the presence of TiN
nanoparticles on the ZnO nanowires. TiN nanoparticles exhibited localized
surface plasmon resonances at 430, 520 and 600 nm. SERS experiments using Nile
Blue and Methylene Blue as the analyte molecules showed significant enhancement
in the Raman signals. It is shown that the origin of the SERS effect is
chemical in nature, due to charge transfer between the analyte molecule and the
TiN nanoparticles. The current work, thus, represents a simple, cost-effective
and facile method for the fabrication of TiN based surface enhanced Raman
scattering substrates.
