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Quantitative SERS by hot spot normalization - surface enhanced Rayleigh band intensity as an alternative evaluation
Haoran Wei1, Alexis McCarthy, Junyeob Song
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. pvikes@vt.edu.
Faraday Discussions
|September 20, 2017
Summary
A new method using the Rayleigh band intensity (IRayleigh) offers a reliable way to evaluate surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. This approach bypasses the need for analytes, providing a universal metric for SERS substrate performance and reproducibility.
Area of Science:
- Spectroscopy
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate performance is conventionally assessed using enhancement factors (EF).
- Calculating EF is complex, requiring model analytes and assumptions about molecular quantities, and is analyte-dependent, hindering substrate comparisons.
- Existing EF metrics present significant challenges in accurately and universally quantifying SERS substrate capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and validate an alternative evaluation parameter for SERS substrates.
- To propose the intensity of the surface plasmon-enhanced Rayleigh band (IRayleigh) as a superior metric over EF.
- To demonstrate the utility of IRayleigh for assessing both SERS substrate efficiency and reproducibility.
Main Methods:
- Investigated six SERS substrates with variations in physical state (solid, liquid, hydrogel), plasmonic material (silver, gold), and nanoparticle characteristics (size, shape).
- Measured the intensity of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE)-derived Rayleigh band (IRayleigh) for each substrate.
- Correlated IRayleigh measurements with SERS signal intensities and spatial homogeneity across the diverse substrates.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated excellent correlations between measured SERS intensities and IRayleigh values.
- Showed strong agreement between SERS substrate homogeneity and the variability of IRayleigh measurements.
- Confirmed that IRayleigh is independent of specific target analytes.
Conclusions:
- The intensity of the Rayleigh band (IRayleigh) serves as a robust, analyte-independent metric for evaluating SERS substrate performance.
- IRayleigh offers a simpler, more universal, and reproducible method for comparing different SERS substrates.
- This novel parameter facilitates accurate assessment of both the efficiency and reproducibility of SERS substrates.
