Technology Overview
This technology is a method for fabricating a surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate leading to improvements in the reproducibility of SERS detection technique. This method is based on a polymer-metal fractal nanocomposite with nanocomposites size of less than 100 nm and uniform dispersion of nanocrystals. It yields a well-defined, stable substrate with high enhancement of the Raman signal over a wide spectral range. This method utilizes standard deposition and etching techniques thereby enabling efficient large-scale preparation of a SERS substrate. The efficiency of the resulting ultra-sensitive SERS substrate for direct detection of biological sample has been demonstrated using double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA).
Benefits
- Improved performance: reproducible enhancement of Raman signal.
- Tunable: SERS surface properties can be tuned for different analytes by changing the nanocomposite morphology.
- Compatible: SERS surface is compatible with available micro-Raman spectrometers.
Applications
Some of the potential applications for this technology are:
- Homeland Security
- Pharmaceuticals
- Forensics
- Molecular Diagnostics
Keywords: detection, raman spectroscopy, surface enhanced Raman scattering, SERS, Raman enhancement, trace analytical measurements, substrate
Inventors: Ilker S. Bayer, Alexandru S. Biris, Abhijit Biswas, Lloyd A. Bumm
