MATERIAL FOR SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, AND SER SENSORS AND METHOD FOR PREPARING SAME

摘要

Metal-doped sol-gel materials, suitable for use as sensors for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic analysis for trace chemical detection, are produced by effecting gelation and solvent removal of a doped sol-gel. Reaction and drying may be effected in an oxygen-starved environment. The metal of the sol-gel material functions, when irradiated, to produce a plasmon field for interaction with molecules of analyze in contact therewith, increasing by orders of magnitude Raman photons that are generated by excitation radiation. The sensors (1) provided may be in the form of glass vials, fiber optics, multi-well micro-sample plates, etc., having a substrate (2) and surface coatings of the sol-gel material (3) doped with metal particles (4) of size to optimize generation of aplasmon field (7), to provide sampling sytems for use in a Raman instrument, the flow of molecules being depicted by (8).