Jin He

In situ synthesis of Au nanoparticle film on PDMS for SERS substrate

ABSTRACT
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique, which can tell us the chemical structure of examine sample, and it is widely used in biosensing. The advantage of SERS for biosensing is: chemically specific, non-destructive and high sensitivity. However, a challenge in SERS is the fabrication of uniform, reproducible and high enhancement substrate.  There are e-beam lithography, nanosphere lithography methods used to solve this problem. Unlike the complicated technique mentioned above, we propose a very simple, large scale and affordable chemical synthesis method. We used gold nanoparticle film (AuNF) on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film as a substrate to enhance Raman signal. By using AuNF on PDMS, the H2O2 was detected at a concentration of 10 mM.

CONCLUSION
In summary, we developed a flexible, reproductive, and reliable SERS substrate with a high sensitivity at a low cost and can easily be replicable. The SERS substrate can be widely used in biological applications, not only to detect H2O2  but to detect other chemicals.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
Melody Siles

GRADUATE STUDENT
Jing Guo