Optically trapped SiO₂@Au particle-dye hybrid-based SERS detection of Hg²⁺ ions

The selective ultra-sensitive detection of a very low concentration of analyte in a liquid environment using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a challenging task owing to the poor reproducibility of the Raman signals arising from the nonstationary nature of the substrate. However, plasmonic metal particle-incorporated microparticles can be effectively 3-D arrested in a liquid environment that can serve as a stable SERS substrate by employing an optical trapping force. Herein, we demonstrate a 3-D optically trapped Au-attached SiO₂ microparticle as an efficient SERS substrate that can detect 512 pM for Rhodamine6G and 6.8 pM for crystal violet. Further, the substrate allows the simultaneous detection of multiple analytes. By utilizing the Raman signal from Rhodamine 6G as the probe beam, the selective detection of Hg²⁺ ions as low as 100 pM is demonstrated.