Abstract
Atomic layer deposition (gls{ald}) has emerged as an essential vapor deposition technique of thin films for countless applications. The rising demand for electronic components and nanostructured materials has established gls{ald} as one of the key fabrication processes in the nanotechnology market.In this work, novel nanostructured materials that can be used as transducers in biosensor devices are presented. These materials have been prepared by a combination of gls{ald} with top-down and bottom-up techniques such as nanosphere lithography (gls{nsl}), physical vapor deposition (gls{pvd}), metal-assisted chemical etching (gls{mace}), and electrodeposition.As a first promising candidate, silicon nanowires (gls{sinws}) covered with ZnO by gls{ald} were fabricated. These 3D structures are quite attractive for optical biosensing applications thanks to their intense photoluminescence (gls{pl}) activity at room temperature. As a first approach, these core/shell nanostructures were fully characterized and tested as possible sensors for the detection of hydrogen peroxide, which is a common reaction product of several oxidoreductases.In addition, Au-covered hollow urchin-like ZnO nanostructures were prepared with controlled size by combining NSL, gls{ald}, electrodeposition, and electron beam (gls{ebeam}) evaporation. The influence of the Au film thickness on the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (gls{sers}) capabilities of the substrates was investigated. The optimized structures were used to detect thiophenol molecules with a limit of detection (gls{lod}) of SI{e-8}{Molar}. Additionally, adenine can be detected with a concentration as low as SI{e-6}{Molar}. The excellent uniformity and batch-to-batch repeatability of the substrates makes them excellent candidates for reliable SERS sensing and biosensing.Moreover, a miscellaneous group of novel materials with enticing features that can be readily applied in sensing, catalysis, and plasmonics is presented. Bimetallic Pd/Au nanoparticles supported on gls{sinws} with gls{ald} and galvanic replacement were fabricated. Furthermore, hollow urchin-like ZnO structures with ZIF-8 via electrodeposition were fabricated for possible SERS applications.