Large-Scale Hot Spot Engineering for Quantitative SERS at the Single-Molecule Scale

J Am Chem Soc. 2015 Oct 28;137(42):13698-705. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5b09111. Epub 2015 Oct 15.

Abstract

Quantitative surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) requires precise control of Raman enhancement factor and detection uniformity across the SERS substrate. Here, we show that alkanethiolate ligand-regulated silver (Ag) nanoparticle films can be used to achieve quantitative SERS measurements down to the single-molecule level. The two-dimensional hexagonal close-packed superlattices of Ag nanoparticles formed in these films allow for SERS detection over a large area with excellent uniformity and high Raman enhancement factor. In particular, the SERS signal from the thiolate ligands on Ag nanoparticle surfaces can be utilized as a stable internal calibration standard for reproducible quantitative measurements. We demonstrate the capability of quantitative SERS by measuring the areal densities of crystal violet molecules embedded in an ultrathin spin-on-glass detection "hot zone", which is a planar and uniformly enhanced region several nanometers above the Ag nanoparticles. The Raman measurement results exhibit a linear response over a wide dynamic range of analyte concentration.