Plasmonic Nanostructures for Reliable and Quantitative Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanophotonics Materials and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 2907

Special Issue Editor

Institute of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: design; preparation and testing of regular SERS-active surfaces and metal nanoparticles/adsorbate systems; Raman and SERS microspectroscopy; surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF); Raman, DCDR and SERS spectroscopy of biomolecules and biologically important molecules (porphyrins, lipids, nucleic acids, drugs, stimulants, food dyes, etc.)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Experimental results obtained in different laboratories worldwide by researchers using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) can differ significantly. The key parameter (which also represents the biggest pitfall) is an employed SERS substrate (colloidal or solid plasmonic nanostructure) determining the sensitivity and reproducibility of the recorded SERS spectra. The SERS plasmonic nanostructures exhibit significant differences in the homogeneity of their geometrical structure, instrumentation, and know-how required for fabrication/synthesis, and the option to be scaled up. This Special Issue will introduce new advanced plasmonic nanostructures for reliable and quantitative SERS applications, taking into account the recommendations, recently published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 5454, https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1002/anie.201908154. by an international team of scientists with longstanding expertise in SERS. Their recommendations include i) the characterization of solid and colloidal SERS substrates by correlative electron and optical microscopy and spectroscopy, ii) the determination of the SERS enhancement factor using suitable Raman reporter/probe molecules, and iii) good analytical practice. Therefore, both newcomers and specialists will benefit from these recommendations in order to increase the inter-laboratory comparability of experimental SERS results and further establish SERS as an analytical tool.

Prof. Dr. Marek Procházka
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • SERS
  • plasmonic nanostructures
  • characterization
  • reproducibility
  • sensitivity
  • analytical practice

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 6020 KiB  
Article
Influence of Ag Photodeposition Conditions over SERS Intensity of Ag/ZnO Microspheres for Nanomolar Detection of Methylene Blue
by Luis Zamora-Peredo, Josué Ismael García-Ramirez, Amado Carlos García-Velasco, Julián Hernández-Torres, Leandro García-González, Monserrat Bizarro and Adriana Báez-Rodríguez
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(12), 3414; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/nano11123414 - 16 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2437
Abstract
Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is considered a versatile and multifunctional technique with the ability to detect molecules of different species at very low molar concentration. In this work, hierarchical ZnO microspheres (ZnO MSs) and Ag/ZnO MSs were fabricated and decorated by hydrothermal [...] Read more.
Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is considered a versatile and multifunctional technique with the ability to detect molecules of different species at very low molar concentration. In this work, hierarchical ZnO microspheres (ZnO MSs) and Ag/ZnO MSs were fabricated and decorated by hydrothermal and photodeposition methods, respectively. For Ag deposition, precursor molar concentration (1.9 and 9.8 mM) and UV irradiation time (5, 15, and 30 min) were evaluated by SEM, TEM, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction showed a peak at 37.9° corresponding to the (111) plane of Ag, whose intensity increases as precursor concentration and UV irradiation time increases. SEM images confirmed the formation of ZnO MSs (from 2.5 to 4.5 µm) building by radially aligned two-dimensional ZnO nanosheets with thicknesses below 30 nm. The Raman spectra of Ag/ZnO MSs exhibited a vibration mode at 486 cm−1 which can be directly associated to Ag deposition on ZnO MSs surface. The performance of SERS substrate was evaluated using rhodamine 6G. The SERS substrate grown at 9.8 mM during 30 min showed the best SERS activity and the ability to detect methylene blue at 10−9 M. Full article
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