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Updated: Jun 30, 2025
Author Spotlight: Single-Molecule Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Measurements Enabled by Plasmonic DNA Origami Nanoantennas
Published on: July 21, 2023
Highly ordered nanocavity as photonic-plasmonic-polaritonic resonator for single molecule miRNA SERS detection
Zheng Tian1, Dawei Xu1, Shenbo Yang2
1State Key Laboratory of Molecular & Process Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China.
Abstract:
Strong light-matter coupling between molecules and electromagnetic field lead to the formation of hybrid polaritonic states for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. However, owing to the inefficient interaction between zero-point fluctuations of photons/plasmons and molecular electronic transitions, the Raman enhancement is limited in relative low levels. Here, we propose and fabricate a TiOx/Cu2-xSe/R6G nanocavity based photonic-plasmonic-polaritonic resonator for single molecular SERS detection. Through precisely matching the energy levels of illuminated photon, generated plasmon, and molecular polariton, an extremely high Raman enhancement factor of 2.6 × 109 is implemented. The rationally designed SERS substrate allows sensitive detection of miRNA-21 in single molecular level with a detection limit of 1.58 aM. The hybrid SERS mechanism both from electromagnetic and chemical perspectives in this photonic-plasmonic-polaritonic resonance strategy provides insight into polaritonic semiconductor systems, thus paving the way for new experimental possibilities in light-matter hybrids.
