Acoustic wave-driven microdroplet enrichment for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection

Yu, Yangyang, Han, Shaoshuai, Wang, Chuan, Du, Meijin, Duan, Shaojing, Lian, Di, Li, He, Huang, Tangcheng, Meng, Hu, Ren, Jun, Yang, Xin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8429-7598 and Wu, Zhenlin 2024. Acoustic wave-driven microdroplet enrichment for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy detection. Optics 5 (4) , pp. 364-377. 10.3390/opt5040027

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Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) holds significant potential across environmental monitoring, materials science, and biomedical applications. However, challenges regarding ultra-sensitive detection and repeatability are bottlenecks for practical applications, especially in terms of detection uniformity. In this study, we utilized surface acoustic waves (SAW) in conjunction with Raman spectroscopy to actively enrich 5 μL of 50 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), thereby achieving innovative SERS-active sensing. This dynamic enrichment process enables the dense and uniform aggregation of AuNPs in droplets, thereby facilitating reliable ultrasensitive detection. The SAW system was further optimized through hydrophobic surface treatment. Using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid as a probe analyte, our SAW-SERS method successfully detected concentrations as low as 10−8 mol/L. The surface acoustic waves had the capability to significantly amplify Raman signal intensity up to 100 compared to conventional drying methodologies. This SAW-induced AuNP clustering technology offers a rapid, label-free SERS sensing method characterized by exceptional sensitivity and uniformity.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Engineering
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Start Date: 2024-09-25
Publisher:	MDPI
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 October 2024
Date of Acceptance:	23 September 2024
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2024 09:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/173113

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