In this paper, a new method for manufacturing flexible and repeatable sensors made of silicon solar cells is reported. The method involves depositing the noble metal film directly onto the Si template and stripping out the substrate with a pyramid morphology by using an adhesive polymer. In order to evaluate the enhancement ability of the substrate, Rhodamine 6G (R6G) were used as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe molecules, and the results showed a high sensitivity and stability. The limit of detection was down to 10-12 M for R6G. The finite-difference time domain (FDTD) was used to reflect the distribution of the electromagnetic field, and the electric field was greatly enhanced on the surface of the inverted pyramidal substrate, especially in pits. The mechanism of Raman enhancement of two types of pyramidal SERS substrate, before and after stripping of the noble metal film, is discussed. By detecting low concentrations of plasmid DNA, the identification of seven characteristic peaks was successfully realized using a noble metallic pyramidal substrate.
Keywords: adhesive polymer; plasmid DNA; pyramid; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS); template stripping method.