Au monolayer film coating with graphene oxide for surface enhanced Raman effect

A self-terminated electrochemical atomic layer deposition process is developed to fabricate Au monolayer (ML) film layer-by-layer. It is found that the under potential deposited hydrogen (H_upd) provides perfect termination after each ML deposition and the further ML growth can be replicated after a surface activation using a positive potential to remove the H_upd layer. Voltammetric measurements, deposition current analysis, and EQCM show clear characteristics of UPD hydrogen surface termination and the ML deposition. Both XRR and HREED confirm the Au ML film formation. Moreover, the Au ML film appears to be effective for surface enhanced Raman effect of GO on the Au ML film.