Plasmonic and Plasmon-Free Nanostructured SERS Sensors

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is employed for identification and detection of several types of analytes such as environment contaminants, explosives, pathogens, and biomarkers from body fluids for preventive healthcare. SERS outperforms the number of other analytical tools especially for detection of analytes at a trace level. In recent years, with advancements in small size Raman spectroscopy tools, portable, on-field, analysis of real-world complex compounds and point-of-care SERS devices is becoming a reality. However, to this end, there is a need to develop highly sensitive, label free and reproducible SERS sensors.<br/>We demonstrate here fabrication of some plasmonic and plasmon-free SERS sensors and detection of analytes using portable Raman setup. The SERS sensors were developed using different nano/microfabrication techniques such as electrospinning, lithography and self-assembly. We compare the performance of plasmon free SERS sensors obtained via different polymeric carbon precursors and with plasmonic sensors for detection of standard analytes and selective explosives and biomarkers.