title: Free-surface microfluidic control of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for the optimized detection of airborne molecules.
abstract: We present a microfluidic technique for sensitive, real-time, optimized detection of airborne water-soluble molecules by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The method is based on a free-surface fluidic device in which a pressure-driven liquid microchannel flow is constrained by surface tension. A colloidal suspension of silver nanoparticles flowing through the microchannel that is open to the atmosphere absorbs gas-phase 4-aminobenzenethiol (4-ABT) from the surrounding environment. As surface ions adsorbed on the colloid nanoparticles are substituted by 4-ABT, the colloid aggregates, forming SERS "hot spots" whose concentrations vary predictably along the microchannel flow. 4-ABT confined in these hot spots produces SERS spectra of very great intensity. An aggregation model is used to account quantitatively for the extent of colloid aggregation as determined from the variation of the SERS intensity measured as a function of the streamwise position along the microchannel, which also corresponds to nanoparticle exposure time. This allows us to monitor simultaneously the nanoparticle aggregation process and to determine the location at which the SERS signal is optimized.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemistry and Biochemistry University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
authors.forename: Brian D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Piorek
authors.forename: Seung Joon
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Juan G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Santiago
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moskovits
authors.forename: Sanjoy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: Carl D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Meinhart
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis*; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D003102:Colloids; D004867:Equipment Design; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D053758:Nanoparticles; D012834:Silver; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013425:Sulfanilic Acids / Q000032:analysis; D013500:Surface Tension
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D003102:Colloids; D013425:Sulfanilic Acids; D012834:Silver; C100016:4-sulfanilic acid