Visualized SERS Imaging of Single Molecule by Ag/Black Phosphorus Nanosheets

Chenglong Lin; Shunshun Liang; Yusi Peng; Li Long; Yanyan Li; Zhengren Huang; Nguyen Viet Long; Xiaoying Luo; Jianjun Liu; Zhiyuan Li; Yong Yang

doi:10.1007/s40820-022-00803-x

Visualized SERS Imaging of Single Molecule by Ag/Black Phosphorus Nanosheets

Nanomicro Lett. 2022 Mar 15;14(1):75. doi: 10.1007/s40820-022-00803-x.

Authors

Chenglong Lin^{1

2

3}, Shunshun Liang⁴, Yusi Peng^{1

2

3}, Li Long⁵, Yanyan Li^{1

2

3}, Zhengren Huang⁶, Nguyen Viet Long⁷, Xiaoying Luo⁴, Jianjun Liu¹, Zhiyuan Li⁵, Yong Yang^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai, 200050, People's Republic of China.
² Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.
³ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 200032, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
⁵ School of Physics and Optoelectronics, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, People's Republic of China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai, 200050, People's Republic of China. zhrhuang@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁷ Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Saigon University, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai, 200050, People's Republic of China. yangyong@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁹ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China. yangyong@mail.sic.ac.cn.

Abstract

Ag/BP-NS exhibit remarkable surface-enhanced Raman scattering performance with single-molecule detection ability. This remarkable enhancement can be attributed to the synergistic resonance enhancement of R6G molecular resonance, photo-induced charge transfer resonance and electromagnetic resonance.
A new polarization-mapping method was proposed, which can quickly screen out single-molecule signals and prove that the obtained spectra are emitted by single molecule.
The recognition of different tumor exosomes can be realized combining the method of machine learning.

Abstract: Single-molecule detection and imaging are of great value in chemical analysis, biomarker identification and other trace detection fields. However, the localization and visualization of single molecule are still quite a challenge. Here, we report a special-engineered nanostructure of Ag nanoparticles embedded in multi-layer black phosphorus nanosheets (Ag/BP-NS) synthesized by a unique photoreduction method as a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensor. Such a SERS substrate features the lowest detection limit of 10^–20 mol L⁻¹ for R6G, which is due to the three synergistic resonance enhancement of molecular resonance, photo-induced charge transfer resonance and electromagnetic resonance. We propose a polarization-mapping strategy to realize the detection and visualization of single molecule. In addition, combined with machine learning, Ag/BP-NS substrates are capable of recognition of different tumor exosomes, which is meaningful for monitoring and early warning of the cancer. This work provides a reliable strategy for the detection of single molecule and a potential candidate for the practical bio-application of SERS technology.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-022-00803-x.

Keywords: Black phosphorus; Exosome; Machine learning; SERS; Single molecule.