No Arabic abstract
Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) process results in a tremendous increase of Raman scattering cross section of molecules adsorbed to plasmonic metals and influenced by numerous physico-chemical factors such as geometry and optical properties of the metal surface, orientation of chemisorbed molecules and chemical environment. While SERS holds promise for single molecule sensitivity and optical sensing of DNA sequences, more detailed understanding of the rich physico-chemical interplay between various factors is needed to enhance predictive power of existing and future SERS-based DNA sensing platforms. In this work we report on experimental results indicating that SERS spectra of adsorbed single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) isomers depend on the order on which individual bases appear in the 3-base long ssDNA due to intra-molecular interaction between DNA bases. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate that the effect holds under more general conditions when the molecules dont experience chemical enhancement due to resonant charge transfer effect and also under standard Raman scattering without electromagnetic or chemical enhancements. Our numerical simulations qualitatively support the experimental findings and indicate that base permutation results in modification of both Raman and chemically enhanced Raman spectra.
The review is devoted to explanation of SERS in terms of the dipole and quadrupole light-molecule interactions arising in surface fields strongly varying in space in the region of the strongly irregular surface roughness. The main SERS characteristics, the theory of electromagnetic fields near some model kinds of rough surfaces and some other systems, the theory of SERS Raman tensor for arbitrary and symmetrical molecules, selection rules and analysis of the SER spectra, some anomalies in the SER spectra of symmetrical molecules for some specific conditions, electrodynamic forbiddance of the quadrupole scattering mechanism for the methane molecule and molecules with cubic symmetry groups are considered. The huge enhancement and blinking of the SERS signal arising in the phenomenon of Single Molecule detection by the SERS method are explained. The above theory is compared with some another SERS mechanisms, and the phenomena accompanying SERS are accounted for. It is demonstrated that the theory is in a good agreement with the experiment and explains quite a number of characteristics related to the SERS phenomenon.
We present an in-depth analysis of the experimental estimation of cross sections in Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) by vibrational pumping. The paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages of the technique, pinpoints the main aspects and limitations, and provides the underlying physical concepts to interpret the experimental results. Examples for several commonly used SERS probes are given, and a discussion on future possible developments is also presented.
The programmable assembly of DNA strands is a promising tool for building tailored bottom-up nanostructures. Here, we present a plasmonic nanosystem obtained by the base-pairing mediated aggregation of gold nanoparticles (NPs) which are separately functionalized with two different single-stranded DNA chains. Their controlled assembly is mediated by a complementary DNA bridge sequence. We monitor the formation of DNA assembled NP aggregates in solution, and we study their Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) response by comparison with the single NP constituents. We interpret the revealed SERS signatures in terms of the molecular and NP organization at the nanoscale, demonstrating that the action of the DNA bridge molecule yields regular NP aggregates with controlled interparticle distance and reproducible SERS response. This demonstrates the potential of the present system as a stable, biocompatible, and recyclable SERS sensor.
Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and Surface-Enhanced Fluorescence (SEF) are studied within the framework of modified Spontaneous Emission (SE), and similarities and differences are highlighted. This description sheds new light into several aspects of the SERS electromagnetic enhancement. In addition, combined with the optical reciprocity theorem it also provides a rigorous justification of a generalized version of the widely used SERS enhancement factor proportional to the fourth power of the field ($|E|^4$). We show, in addition, that this approach also applies to the calculation of Surface-Enhanced Fluorescence cross-sections thus presenting both phenomena SERS and SEF within a unified framework.
A method is proposed to pin down an unambiguous proof for single molecule surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The simultaneous use of two analyte molecules enables a clear confirmation of the single (or few) molecule nature of the signals. This method eliminates most of the uncertainties associated with low dye concentrations in previous experiments. It further shows that single-molecule signals are very common in SERS, both in liquids and on dry substrates.