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Three-Dimensional (3D) Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Substrates for Sensing Low-Concentration Molecules in Solution

Authors :
Ashutosh Mukherjee
Frank Wackenhut
Alfred J. Meixner
Hermann A. Mayer
Marc Brecht
Source :
Nanomaterials, Vol 14, Iss 21, p 1728 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

The use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) in liquid solutions has always been challenging due to signal fluctuations, inconsistent data, and difficulties in obtaining reliable results, especially at very low analyte concentrations. In our study, we introduce a new method using a three-dimensional (3D) SERS substrate made of silica microparticles (SMPs) with attached plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs). These SMPs were placed in low-concentration analyte solutions for SERS analysis. In the first approach to perform SERS in a 3D environment, glycerin was used to immobilize the particles, which enabled high-resolution SERS imaging. Additionally, we conducted time-dependent SERS measurements in an aqueous solution, where freely suspended SMPs passed through the laser focus. In both scenarios, EFs larger than 200 were achieved, which enabled the detection of low-abundance analytes. Our study demonstrates a reliable and reproducible method for performing SERS in liquid environments, offering significant advantages for the real-time analysis of dynamic processes, sensitive detection of low-concentration molecules, and potential applications in biomolecular interaction studies, environmental monitoring, and biomedical diagnostics.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20794991
Volume :
14
Issue :
21
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Nanomaterials
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.7536547c6f284479b86e269869171521
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14211728