Optimisation of Shell-isolated nanoparticle enhanced Ramanspectroscopy and beyond

摘要

Introduction of nanostructured surfaces as amplifiers significantly increases the sensitivityof Raman signals,so-called a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect,capable ofobserving spectroscopic features from a molecular level.Shell-isolated nanoparticle enhancedRaman spectroscopy (SHINERS) is one of the advanced SERS techniques1,using Aunanoparticles that are covered by a few nm thick silica shell as an optical amplifier,whichenhances Raman signals of molecules on and near their surfaces.Since optical amplifiers wouldnot interact chemically nor electrically with target molecules due to the presence of silica shell,one can utilise amplifiers on any type of substrate in terms of shape and materials for Ramanmeasurements,expanding the versatility of the SERS technique.However,due to theintroduction of thin shells on the surface of amplifier,SHIHNERS suffers relatively lowsensitivity compare to the original SERS.