biostudies-literatureBanerjee DDefence Research and Development Organisation4155https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9228845biostudies-literatureUnknown15(12)A zeroth-order, non-diffracting Bessel beam, generated by picosecond laser pulses (1064 nm, 10 Hz, 30 ps) through an axicon, was utilized to perform pulse energy-dependent (12 mJ, 16 mJ, 20 mJ, 24 mJ) laser ablation of silver (Ag) substrates in air. The fabrication resulted in finger-like Ag nanostructures (NSs) in the sub-200 nm domain and obtained structures were characterized using the FESEM and AFM techniques. Subsequently, we employed those Ag NSs in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) studies achieving promising sensing results towards trace-level detection of six different hazardous materials (explosive molecules of picric acid (PA) and ammonium nitrate (AN), a pesticide thiram (TH) and the dye molecules of Methylene Blue (MB), Malachite Green (MG), and Nile Blue (NB)) along Materials (Basel, Switzerland)Picosecond Bessel Beam Fabricated Pure, Gold-Coated Silver Nanostructures for Trace-Level Sensing of Multiple Explosives and Hazardous Molecules.PMC9228845ERIP/ER/1501138/M/01/319/D (R&D)Ghosh SBanerjee DSoma VRAkkanaboina MfalsePicosecond Bessel Beam Fabricated Pure, Gold-Coated Silver Nanostructures for Trace-Level Sensing of Multiple Explosives and Hazardous Molecules.A zeroth-order, non-diffracting Bessel beam, generated by picosecond laser pulses (1064 nm, 10 Hz, 30 ps) through an axicon, was utilized to perform pulse energy-dependent (12 mJ, 16 mJ, 20 mJ, 24 mJ) laser ablation of silver (Ag) substrates in air. The fabrication resulted in finger-like Ag nanostructures (NSs) in the sub-200 nm domain and obtained structures were characterized using the FESEM and AFM techniques. Subsequently, we employed those Ag NSs in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) studies achieving promising sensing results towards trace-level detection of six different hazardous materials (explosive molecules of picric acid (PA) and ammonium nitrate (AN), a pesticide thiram (TH) and the dye molecules of Methylene Blue (MB), Malachite Green (MG), and Nile Blue (NB)) along 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Jun2025-04-04T11:28:49.363Z2025-04-04T11:28:49.363ZS-EPMC92288453574421410.3390/ma15124155