Strongly enhanced Raman scattering of graphene by a single gold nanorod

Individual gold nanorods (AuNRs) and monolayer graphene hybrid system is investigated experimentally. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signal of the graphene is observed due to a single AuNR with enhancement factor up to ∼1000-fold. The SERS intensity is strongly polarization dependent and the enhancement effect varies with the detuning between the excitation laser and the AuNR resonance. The SERS effect is highest when the resonant wavelength of the AuNRs matches well with the excitation light. By correlating the scattering and photoluminescence, it is demonstrated that the conventional background in SERS ascribes to the photon emission of metallic nanostructures.