SERS study on adenine using a Ag/poly(t-butylacrylate) nanocomposite

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is a powerful technique for detecting molecules at low concentrations.
• Silver (Ag) nanoparticles are commonly used as SERS substrates due to their plasmonic properties.
• Developing stable and reusable SERS substrates remains an active area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the enhancement of Raman signals of the nucleobase adenine using a novel Ag-based composite.
• To explore the potential of polymer-encapsulated Ag nanoparticles as SERS substrates.
• To establish a convenient and alternative analytical approach for SERS monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of Ag nanoparticles encapsulated in poly(t-butylacrylate) (PtBA) beads.
• Utilizing a 1064 nm laser line for Raman signal excitation.
• Aggregation of the Ag/PtBA emulsion and isolation of the solid composite for SERS analysis.

Main Results:

• Significant Raman signal enhancement was observed for adenine.
• The ring-stretching vibrational mode of adenine showed notable enhancement.
• The aggregated Ag/PtBA composite demonstrated effective SERS activity.

Conclusions:

• The developed Ag/PtBA composite serves as a highly sensitive SERS substrate for adenine detection.
• This approach provides a convenient and alternative method compared to traditional Ag colloids.
• The findings contribute to the development of innovative polymeric platforms for sensitive SERS analysis of DNA fragments.