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Updated: Apr 27, 2026
Author Spotlight: Single-Molecule Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Measurements Enabled by Plasmonic DNA Origami Nanoantennas
Published on: July 21, 2023
Hairpin DNA-assisted silicon/silver-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensing platform for ultrahighly
Hui Wang1, Xiangxu Jiang, Xing Wang
1Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, and ‡Cyrus Tang Hematology Center, Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, First Affiliated Hospital, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University , Suzhou 215123, China.
Abstract:
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is well-recognized as a powerful analytical tool for ultrahighly sensitive detection of analytes. In this article, we present a kind of silicon-based SERS sensing platform made of a hairpin DNA-modified silver nanoparticles decorated silicon wafer (AgNPs@Si). In particular, the AgNPs@Si with a high enhancement factor (EF) value of ~4.5 × 10(7) is first achieved under optimum reaction conditions (i.e., pH = 12, reaction time = 20 min) based on systematic investigation. Such resultant AgNPs@Si is then employed for construction of a silicon-based SERS sensing platform through surface modification of hairpin DNA, which is superbly suitable for highly reproducible, multiplexed, and ultrasensitive DNA detection. A detection limit of 1 fM is readily achieved in a very reproducible manner along with high specificity. Most significantly, for the first time, we demonstrate that the silicon-based SERS platform is highly efficacious for discriminating deafness-causing mutations in a real system at the femtomolar level (500 fM), which is about 3-4 orders of magnitude lower than that (~5 nM) ever reported by conventional detection methods. Our results raise the exciting potential of practical SERS applications in biology and biomedicine.
