Photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy for universal ultra-trace detection of explosives, pollutants and biomolecules

Ben-Jaber, S., Peveler, W. J. , Quesada-Cabrera, R., Cortés, E., Sotelo-Vazquez, C., Abdul-Karim, N., Maier, S. A. and Parkin, I. P. (2016) Photo-induced enhanced Raman spectroscopy for universal ultra-trace detection of explosives, pollutants and biomolecules. Nature Communications, 7, p. 12189. (doi: 10.1038/ncomms12189) (PMID:27412699) (PMCID:PMC4947161)

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy is one of the most sensitive spectroscopic techniques available, with single-molecule detection possible on a range of noble-metal substrates. It is widely used to detect molecules that have a strong Raman response at very low concentrations. Here we present photo-induced-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, where the combination of plasmonic nanoparticles with a photo-activated substrate gives rise to large signal enhancement (an order of magnitude) for a wide range of small molecules, even those with a typically low Raman cross-section. We show that the induced chemical enhancement is due to increased electron density at the noble-metal nanoparticles, and demonstrate the universality of this system with explosives, biomolecules and organic dyes, at trace levels. Our substrates are also easy to fabricate, self-cleaning and reusable.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: SBJ acknowledges the support of the government of Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Interior, King Fahd Security College (KFSC), WJP is supported by EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship EP/M506448/1, EC is supported by a Marie Curie fellowship. SAM and EC acknowledge the EPSRC Reactive Plasmonics project EP/M013812/1, the Office of Naval Research, the Royal Society, and the Lee-Lucas Chair in Physics.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Peveler, Dr William
• Authors: Ben-Jaber, S., Peveler, W. J., Quesada-Cabrera, R., Cortés, E., Sotelo-Vazquez, C., Abdul-Karim, N., Maier, S. A., and Parkin, I. P.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2041-1723
• ISSN (Online): 2041-1723
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Nature Communications 7: 12189
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License