Since the initial discovery of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in the 1970s, it has exhibited a huge potential application in many fields due to its outstanding advantages. Since the ultra-sensitive noble metallic nanostructures have increasingly exposed themselves as having some problems during application, semiconductors have been gradually exploited as one of the critical SERS substrate materials due to their distinctive advantages when compared with noble metals. ZnO is one of the most representative metallic oxide semiconductors with an abundant reserve, various and cost-effective fabrication techniques, as well as special physical and chemical properties. Thanks to the varied morphologies, size-dependent exciton, good chemical stability, a tunable band gap, carrier concentration, and stoichiometry, ZnO nanostructures have the potential to be exploited as SERS substrates. Moreover, other distinctive properties possessed by ZnO such as biocompatibility, photocatcalysis and self-cleaning, and gas- and chemo-sensitivity can be synergistically integrated and exerted with SERS activity to realize the multifunctional potential of ZnO substrates. In this review, we discuss the inevitable development trend of exploiting the potential semiconductor ZnO as a SERS substrate. After clarifying the root cause of the great disparity between the enhancement factor (EF) of noble metals and that of ZnO nanostructures, two specific methods are put forward to improve the SERS activity of ZnO, namely: elemental doping and combination of ZnO with noble metals. Then, we introduce a distinctive advantage of ZnO as SERS substrate and illustrate the necessity of reporting a meaningful average EF. We also summarize some fabrication methods for ZnO nanostructures with varied dimensions (0–3 dimensions). Finally, we present an overview of ZnO nanostructures for the versatile SERS application.

Pt-based bimetallic nanostructures have attracted a great deal of attention due to their unique nanostructures and excellent catalytic properties. In this study, we prepared porous Pt–Pd nanoparticles using an efficient, one-pot co-reduction process without using any templates or toxic reactants. In this process, Pt–Pd nanoparticles with different nanostructures were obtained by adjusting the temperature and ratio of the two precursors; and their catalytic properties for the oxidation of methanol were studied. The porous Pt–Pd nanostructures showed better electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of methanol with a higher current density (0.67 mA/cm²), compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.31 mA/cm²). This method provides one easy pathway to economically prepare different alloy nanostructures for various applications.