SERS Active Plasmonic Nanostructures

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthesis, Interfaces and Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 10871

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Interests: Raman and SERS; spectroscopy; plasmonic nanostructures; biosensors; SERS-based detection of biological systems; fabrication of SERS substrates

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) results from molecules adsorbed onto a specially designed metallic surface (usually Ag, Au, and their alloys) and is currently a dynamically developing method widely applied in biomedical and analytical studies. As a result of the complex mechanisms involved in the SERS phenomenon, the Raman signal is enhanced 103–1014, which offers the opportunity to detect single molecules, even though SERS signal magnitude depends on various factors, such as the electrical properties of the metal, distance of the molecule from the surface, and its orientation on the surface, frequency, angle, and intensity of light incidence. The morphology of SERS-active plasmonic structures, i.e., size, geometry, and arrangement of the nanostructures forming this surface, is a key parameter determining the sensitivity and reproducibility of the recorded SERS spectra. Despite the large number of applied techniques and huge development of nanotechnology, fabrication of SERS-active nanostructures that will satisfy the high sensitivity, reproducibility, and stability of the recorded SERS signals is still a big challenge. Lack of such a SERS-active structure hampers the practical applications of the SERS technique.

This Special Issue on SERS Active Plasmonic Nanostructures is dedicated to the discussion of the latest research in the developments and characterization of the SERS-active plasmonic nanostructures for a wide range of applications, especially in trace analysis, e.g., to determine water pollution, in forensics, medicine or for biomedical and analytical studies. Special attention will be given to the understanding and monitoring of the plasmonic features of various nanostructured materials.

Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Kamińska
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Plasmonics
  • SERS-active nanostructures
  • Silver and gold nanoparticles
  • Metal-enhanced fluorescence-sensing methodologies
  • Surface plasmon resonance

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2119 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Gold Nanoparticle Size and Shape for the Fabrication of SERS Substrates by Means of the Langmuir–Blodgett Technique
by Mohammad Tahghighi, Davide Janner and Jordi Ignés-Mullol
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(11), 2264; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10112264 - 16 Nov 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3914
Abstract
The Langmuir–Blodgett technique, in which a layer of nanoparticles is spread at the water/air interface and further transferred onto a solid support, is a versatile approach for the preparation of SERS substrates with a controllable arrangement of hotspots. In a previous work, we [...] Read more.
The Langmuir–Blodgett technique, in which a layer of nanoparticles is spread at the water/air interface and further transferred onto a solid support, is a versatile approach for the preparation of SERS substrates with a controllable arrangement of hotspots. In a previous work, we demonstrated that fine-tuning the lateral packing and subsequent seed growth of 10 nm gold nanoparticles led to a quasi-resonant enhanced in the SERS signal of a test analyte. Here, we explore further enhancements by modifying the size and shape of the spread gold nanoparticles in order to take advantage of the inherent interparticle repulsion mechanisms present at the interface. We show that the size of the used nanoparticles is also a determinant factor, which cannot be compensated by the subsequent electroless growth. We also show that, although the seeded growth leads to rough hotspots, the sensitivity can be optimized by self-assembling urchin-shaped nanoparticles, with a roughness that is fine-tuned a priori. Our results suggest an intriguing correlation between surface homogeneity and SERS signal enhancement, indicating that regular substrates will have the optimal performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SERS Active Plasmonic Nanostructures)
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10 pages, 2680 KiB  
Article
Improved Charge Transfer Contribution by Cosputtering Ag and ZnO
by Bingbing Han, Shuang Guo, Sila Jin, Eungyeong Park, Xiangxin Xue, Lei Chen and Young Mee Jung
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(8), 1455; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10081455 - 25 Jul 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2716
Abstract
A two-dimensional polystyrene microsphere array cosputtered with Ag and ZnO was designed for evaluating surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and SERS properties were significantly changed by the introduction of ZnO into the Ag film. By increasing the Ag [...] Read more.
A two-dimensional polystyrene microsphere array cosputtered with Ag and ZnO was designed for evaluating surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and SERS properties were significantly changed by the introduction of ZnO into the Ag film. By increasing the Ag sputtering power, a redshift of the SPR peak was obtained. Moreover, improved SERS activity occurred because of the electromagnetic (EM) contribution from the increasing Ag content and the charge transfer (CT) contribution from the introduction of ZnO. More importantly, the Hall effect was employed to evaluate the carrier density effect on the SERS contribution of the Ag/ZnO film. The increase in the carrier density as the Ag sputtering power increased indicated an increasing number of free electrons stored in the Ag/ZnO film, which was accompanied by improved EM and CT contributions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SERS Active Plasmonic Nanostructures)
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Review

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13 pages, 6430 KiB  
Review
The Effect of Surface Modification of Gold Nanotriangles for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Performance
by Joachim Koetz
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(11), 2187; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10112187 - 2 Nov 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3628
Abstract
A surface modification of ultraflat gold nanotriangles (AuNTs) with different shaped nanoparticles is of special relevance for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the photo-catalytic activity of plasmonic substrates. Therefore, different approaches are used to verify the flat platelet morphology of the AuNTs by [...] Read more.
A surface modification of ultraflat gold nanotriangles (AuNTs) with different shaped nanoparticles is of special relevance for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the photo-catalytic activity of plasmonic substrates. Therefore, different approaches are used to verify the flat platelet morphology of the AuNTs by oriented overgrowth with metal nanoparticles. The most important part for the morphological transformation of the AuNTs is the coating layer, containing surfactants or polymers. By using well established AuNTs stabilized by a dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) bilayer, different strategies of surface modification with noble metal nanoparticles are possible. On the one hand undulated superstructures were synthesized by in situ growth of hemispherical gold nanoparticles in the polyethyleneimine (PEI)-coated AOT bilayer of the AuNTs. On the other hand spiked AuNTs were obtained by a direct reduction of Au3+ ions in the AOT double layer in presence of silver ions and ascorbic acid as reducing agent. Additionally, crumble topping of the smooth AuNTs can be realized after an exchange of the AOT bilayer by hyaluronic acid, followed by a silver-ion mediated reduction with ascorbic acid. Furthermore, a decoration with silver nanoparticles after coating the AOT bilayer with the cationic surfactant benzylhexadecyldimethylammonium chloride (BDAC) can be realized. In that case the ultraviolet (UV)-absorption of the undulated Au@Ag nanoplatelets can be tuned depending on the degree of decoration with silver nanoparticles. Comparing the Raman scattering data for the plasmon driven dimerization of 4-nitrothiophenol (4-NTP) to 4,4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) one can conclude that the most important effect of surface modification with a 75 times higher enhancement factor in SERS experiments becomes available by decoration with gold spikes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SERS Active Plasmonic Nanostructures)
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