| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NS-TuP |
| Session: | Nanometer-scale Science & Technology Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Andrew Cook, Vanderbilt University |
| Authors: | A.L. Cook, Vanderbilt University C.S. Carson, Fisk University J. DeCoste, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center T.D. Giorgio, Vanderbilt University R. Mu, Fisk University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has great potential to revolutionize clinical diagnostics, yet is limited by an extreme intensity drop-off with distance from the sensing surface. For this reason, much research into SERS-based biosensing relies on chemical or physical adsorption of analytes to the active surface, which limits the types of analytes that can be detected, as well as detection sensitivity. Using the 3-dimensional closely packed architecture of zinc oxide nanowires decorated with silver nanoparticles, the enhancement drop-off can be effectively mitigated, allowing for adsorption-free biosensing. This greatly improves the viability of Raman spectroscopy as a biosensing technique. We demonstrate a significant SERS enhancement from silver nanoparticle-decorated zinc oxide nanoprobes to the Raman spectrum of crystal violet molecules in water, as a model system. More importantly, we demonstrate the detected SERS signal is from molecules un-adsorbed to the sensing surfaces via time-dependent Raman analysis. We also demonstrate growth of high quality zinc oxide nanowires and deposition of silver nanoparticles on the nanowire sides as a surface-enhanced sensing platform.