SERS

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is a powerful surface technique that allows Raman spectroscopy to be sensitively enhanced. This technique utilizes the surface enhancement effects of metallic nanostructures to amplify the Raman signals of molecules adsorbed in close proximity to these structures.

The key to the effectiveness of SERS lies in the use of nanostructures such as metallic nanoparticles, nanorods or nano-islands immobilized on a substrate. These nanostructures have a high affinity to the adsorbed analyte molecules and induce a local electric field enhancement at the surface due to their surface plasmon resonance. As a result, the Raman signals of the molecules in the immediate vicinity of the nanostructures are amplified by several orders of magnitude.

SERS offers a number of advantages over conventional Raman spectroscopy techniques. Due to the enormous improvements in signal intensity, molecules can be detected in extremely low concentrations, often down to single molecules. In addition, SERS enables the investigation of molecules in complex environments such as biological samples, cell cultures or environmental samples.

The applications of SERS are diverse and range from chemical and biological analysis to food and environmental monitoring, forensic science and medical diagnostics. SERS has proven to be an extremely useful tool to detect molecules with high sensitivity, specific selectivity and fast analysis times, leading to improved characterization and identification of substances in a variety of sample matrices.