Biological Photonic Crystal-Enhanced Plasmonic Mesocapsules: Approaching Single-Molecule Optofluidic-SERS Sensing.

ABSTRACT: Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensing in microfluidic devices, namely optofluidic-SERS, suffers an intrinsic trade-off between mass transport and hot spot density, both of which are required for ultra-sensitive detection. To overcome this compromise, photonic crystal-enhanced plasmonic mesocapsules are synthesized, utilizing diatom biosilica decorated with in-situ growth silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). In our optofluidic-SERS testing, 100× higher enhancement factors and greater than 1,000× better detection limit were achieved compared with traditional colloidal Ag NPs, the improvement of which is attributed to unique properties of the mesocapsules. First, the porous diatom biosilica frustules serve as carrier capsules for high density Ag NPs that form high density plasmonic hot-s

SUBMITTER: Sivashanmugan K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7410161 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature