Single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has attracted increasing interest for chemical and biochemical sensing. Many conventional substrates have a broad distribution of SERS enhancements, which compromise reproducibility and result in slow response times for single-molecule detection. Here we report a smart plasmonic sensor that can reversibly trap a single molecule at hotspots for rapid single-molecule detection. The sensor was fabricated through electrostatic self-assembly of gold nanoparticles onto a gold/silica-coated silicon substrate, producing a high yield of uniformly distributed hotspots on the surface. The hotspots were isolated with a monolayer of a thermoresponsive polymer (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)), which act as gates for molecular trapping at the hotspots. The sensor shows not only a good SERS reproducibility but also a capability to repetitively trap and release molecules for single-molecular sensing. The single-molecule sensitivity is experimentally verified using SERS spectral blinking and bianalyte methods.

Reversible gating of smart plasmonic molecular traps using thermoresponsive polymers for single-molecule detection / Zheng, Y.; Soeriyadi, A. H.; Rosa, Lorenzo; Ng, S. H.; Bach, U.; Gooding J., Justin. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 6:(2015), pp. 8797.1-8797.8. [10.1038/ncomms9797]

Reversible gating of smart plasmonic molecular traps using thermoresponsive polymers for single-molecule detection

ROSA, Lorenzo;
2015

Abstract

Single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has attracted increasing interest for chemical and biochemical sensing. Many conventional substrates have a broad distribution of SERS enhancements, which compromise reproducibility and result in slow response times for single-molecule detection. Here we report a smart plasmonic sensor that can reversibly trap a single molecule at hotspots for rapid single-molecule detection. The sensor was fabricated through electrostatic self-assembly of gold nanoparticles onto a gold/silica-coated silicon substrate, producing a high yield of uniformly distributed hotspots on the surface. The hotspots were isolated with a monolayer of a thermoresponsive polymer (poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)), which act as gates for molecular trapping at the hotspots. The sensor shows not only a good SERS reproducibility but also a capability to repetitively trap and release molecules for single-molecular sensing. The single-molecule sensitivity is experimentally verified using SERS spectral blinking and bianalyte methods.
2015
6
1
8
Reversible gating of smart plasmonic molecular traps using thermoresponsive polymers for single-molecule detection / Zheng, Y.; Soeriyadi, A. H.; Rosa, Lorenzo; Ng, S. H.; Bach, U.; Gooding J., Justin. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 6:(2015), pp. 8797.1-8797.8. [10.1038/ncomms9797]
Zheng, Y.; Soeriyadi, A. H.; Rosa, Lorenzo; Ng, S. H.; Bach, U.; Gooding J., Justin
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1138528
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