TY - JOUR
T1 - A review on surface-enhanced Raman scattering
AU - Pilot, Roberto
AU - Signorini, Raffaella
AU - Durante, Christian
AU - Orian, Laura
AU - Bhamidipati, Manjari
AU - Fabris, Laura
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has become a powerful tool in chemical, material and life sciences, owing to its intrinsic features (i.e., fingerprint recognition capabilities and high sensitivity) and to the technological advancements that have lowered the cost of the instruments and improved their sensitivity and user-friendliness. We provide an overview of the most significant aspects of SERS. First, the phenomena at the basis of the SERS amplification are described. Then, the measurement of the enhancement and the key factors that determine it (the materials, the hot spots, and the analyte-surface distance) are discussed. A section is dedicated to the analysis of the relevant factors for the choice of the excitation wavelength in a SERS experiment. Several types of substrates and fabrication methods are illustrated, along with some examples of the coupling of SERS with separation and capturing techniques. Finally, a representative selection of applications in the biomedical field, with direct and indirect protocols, is provided. We intentionally avoided using a highly technical language and, whenever possible, intuitive explanations of the involved phenomena are provided, in order to make this review suitable to scientists with different degrees of specialization in this field.
AB - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has become a powerful tool in chemical, material and life sciences, owing to its intrinsic features (i.e., fingerprint recognition capabilities and high sensitivity) and to the technological advancements that have lowered the cost of the instruments and improved their sensitivity and user-friendliness. We provide an overview of the most significant aspects of SERS. First, the phenomena at the basis of the SERS amplification are described. Then, the measurement of the enhancement and the key factors that determine it (the materials, the hot spots, and the analyte-surface distance) are discussed. A section is dedicated to the analysis of the relevant factors for the choice of the excitation wavelength in a SERS experiment. Several types of substrates and fabrication methods are illustrated, along with some examples of the coupling of SERS with separation and capturing techniques. Finally, a representative selection of applications in the biomedical field, with direct and indirect protocols, is provided. We intentionally avoided using a highly technical language and, whenever possible, intuitive explanations of the involved phenomena are provided, in order to make this review suitable to scientists with different degrees of specialization in this field.
KW - Biomedical applications
KW - Chemical enhancement
KW - Electromagnetic enhancement
KW - Enhancement factor
KW - Excitation wavelength
KW - Raman
KW - SERS
KW - Substrates
KW - Surface enhanced
KW - Underpotential deposition
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U2 - 10.3390/bios9020057
DO - 10.3390/bios9020057
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30999661
AN - SCOPUS:85065091291
VL - 9
JO - Biosensors
JF - Biosensors
SN - 0956-5663
IS - 2
M1 - 57
ER -