Uniform gold spherical particles for single-particle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) relies on localized surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanostructures.
• Key challenges in SERS include achieving high detection sensitivity and measurement reproducibility.
• Traditional SERS substrates often involve nanoparticle aggregates, posing limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address sensitivity and reproducibility issues in SERS.
• To introduce and evaluate a single particle SERS approach.
• To develop uniform gold microspheres for SERS applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of uniform gold microspheres with controlled size and surface roughness via an etching-assisted seed-mediated method.
• Characterization using single particle dark-field spectroscopy.
• Evaluation of SERS performance, including signal intensity and reproducibility.

Main Results:

• Gold microspheres with larger surface roughness exhibited stronger SERS signals.
• The single particle SERS approach maintained good reproducibility.
• Demonstrated the potential for trace analysis using this method.

Conclusions:

• Single particle SERS is a viable technique for enhancing sensitivity and reproducibility.
• Tailoring nanoparticle surface roughness is crucial for optimizing SERS performance.
• This method shows significant promise for practical trace analysis applications.