Metallic bowtie nanoarchitectures can produce dramatic electric field enhancement, which is advantageous in single-molecule analysis and optical information processing. Plasmonic bowtie nanostructures were successfully constructed using a DNA origami-based bottom-up assembly strategy, which enables precise control over the geometrical configuration of the bowtie with an approximate 5 nm gap. A single Raman probe was accurately positioned at the gap of the bowtie. Single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SM-SERS) of individual nanostructures, including ones containing an alkyne group, was observed. The design achieved repeatable local field enhancement of several orders of magnitude. This method opens the door on a novel strategy for the fabrication of metal bowtie structures and SM-SERS, which can be utilized in the design of highly-sensitive photonic devices.
Keywords: DNA assembly; bowtie nanostructures; plasmonic resonance; single-molecule studies; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.
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