This research describes a new method of aqueous synthesis of gold nanoparticles in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and folic acid through a seed-mediated growth approach.  These nanoparticles have a shape similar to corals, and therefore, we referred to them as 'gold nanocorals' (AuNCs).  Specifically, AuNCs consist of a solid core surrounded densely by branches.  The branches exhibit nanosized roughness that creates multiple plasmonic hot-spots that increase AuNCs' SERS activity.  In this study, we demonstrated that at the fast scanning times necessary for biomedical applications, AuNCs wxhibit an analytical enhancement factor greatot than 10³ and 7 times greater enhancement of the Raman signal compared to gold nanostars.  AuNCs-based SERS substrates demonstrated a good ability to reproduce signals collected, and thereby confirmed AuNCs feasibility in generating reliable and sensitive SERS substrates.

*Darienzo R, Karius K, Obla N, Chang C, Mironava T. Mater. Res. Express 2018; 5:095003