Plasmonic-Magnetic Core-Shell Nanoparticles—Synthesis and SERS Characterization

The ability to harness plasmonic nanoparticles with magnetic functions would increase their use in a wide range of applications, especially in medical diagnostics of cancer where current detection methods such as X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging are costly, time-consuming, and invasive, making them less suitable for rapid screening and early detection. We have been developing nanoprobes for detecting cancer biomarkers such as proteins and DNAs. A key challenge is the ability to harness the multifunctional structures for the diagnostic and quick detection of these biomarkers. In this presentation, recent results from investigating tunable magnetic-plasmonic core-shell nanoparticles (NPs) for magnetic focusing and plasmonic signal amplification. This method effectively couples the magnetic and plasmonic properties of different-sized magnetic NPs (e.g., NiCo alloy, Fe₃O₄) with plasmonic NPs (e.g., Au, Ag, alloy) within a microfluidic platform. This strategy leverages the bifunctional capabilities allowing magnetic manipulation through magnetic focusing in the microfluidic system and plasmonic signal amplification for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. The effectiveness of this approach in detecting different cancer biomarkers will be discussed.