title: Chitosan-coated anisotropic silver nanoparticles as a SERS substrate for single-molecule detection.
abstract: Surface-enhanced  Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a technique that has become widely used for identifying and providing structural information about molecular species in low concentration. There is an ongoing interest in finding optimum particle size, shape and spatial distribution for optimizing the SERS substrates and pushing the sensitivity toward the single-molecule detection limit. This work reports the design of a novel, biocompatible SERS substrate based on small clusters of anisotropic silver nanoparticles embedded in a film of chitosan biopolymer. The SERS efficiency of the biocompatible film is assessed by employing Raman imaging and spectroscopy of adenine, a significant biological molecule. By combining atomic force microscopy with SERS imaging we find that the chitosan matrix enables the formation of small clusters of silver nanoparticles, with junctions and gaps that greatly enhance the Raman intensities of the adsorbed molecules. The study demonstrates that chitosan-coated anisotropic silver nanoparticle clusters are sensitive enough to be implemented as effective plasmonic substrates for SERS detection of nonresonant analytes at the single-molecule level.
authors.affiliation: Nanobiophotonics and Laser Microscopy Center, Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, and Faculty of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, Treboniu Laurian Street 42, 400271 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Potara
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baia
authors.forename: Cosmin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Farcau
authors.forename: Simion
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Astilean
mesh_terms: D000225:Adenine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D000327:Adsorption; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012834:Silver; D048271:Chitosan; D000225:Adenine