The Raman and SERS signals of suspended and supported graphenes can be measured and analyzed systematically. The peak positions of G and 2D bands, the I 2D/I G ratio, and enhancements of G and 2D bands were obtained, respectively. With our analysis, details about the effects of charged impurities and substrate can be realized. The peak shift of G and 2D bands and the I 2D/I selleck G ratio are useful to demonstrate the dopants and substrate effects on the graphene. The well-enhanced G and 2D bands are obtained to enhance the weak Raman signals. Moreover, the

enhancements of G band with respect to 2D band are found to be more sensitive to various substrate influences on the graphene surface. This paper provides a new approach to investigate check details the substrate and doping effect on graphene. Methods Suspended graphene was fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of graphene flakes onto an oxidized silicon wafer. The optical image of suspended and supported graphenes and the illustration of their coverage by silver nanoparticles are shown in Figure 1. Orderly arranged squares with areas

of 6 μm2 were first defined by photolithography on an oxidized silicon wafer with an oxide thickness of 300 nm. Reactive ion etching was then used to etch the squares to a depth of 150 nm. Highly ordered pyrolytic graphite was consequently cleaved with the protection of scotch tape to enable the suspended graphene flakes to be deposited over the indents. To study the SERS, silver nanoparticles were deposited on the graphene flake at a deposition rate of 0.5 nm/min by a thermal deposition system. A 5-nm-thick layer of silver nanoparticles on the graphene flake was thus formed. To measure the graphene flake, a micro-Raman microscope (Jobin Yvon iHR550; HORIBA, Ltd., Minami-ku, Kyoto, Japan) was utilized to obtain the Raman and SERS signals of monolayer graphene. The monolayer graphene was identified through optical observation with various color contrast Casein kinase 1 and by Raman spectroscopy with the

different shape bandwidths and peak positions of 2D band under different graphene layers. During spectroscopic measurement, a 632-nm He-Ne laser was used as the excitation source; the power was monitored and controlled under 0.5 mW to avoid the heating of the graphene surface. Figure 1 Optical image of suspended and supported graphenes and their coverage by silver nanoparticles. Optical image of suspended and supported graphenes (a) and their illustrations covered by silver nanoparticles (b). Results and discussion To explore the SERS on graphene, the interactions between metallic nanoparticles and graphene surface has to be presumably understood. This is because the plasmonic resonances of nanoparticles with different shapes and sizes can affect the interactions between them, and then change the SERS signals [18, 29–33].