Development of SERS substrates for immunoassay applications

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an emerging technique for the detection and identification of biological structures. SERS is based on immunoassay methods are mostly used for the specific detection and identification of bacteria. In this study, SERS substrates are developed with deposition of synthesized spherical 13 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and 50 nm silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on regular glass slides with convective assembly method for SERS based immunoassay for the detection and identification of bacteria. The synthesized NPs are characterized by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Colloidal suspensions are concentrated by centrifugation to obtain thin films by the deposition of NPs on a regular glass slide with the convective assembly. The experimental parameters for the convective assembly are optimized by changing of NP concentration, stage velocity and NPs volume dropped between two glass slides. Structural characterization of thin films is performed by AFM and SEM. SERS is also used for the optical characterization of the prepared thin films of NPs. In this study, 4- aminothiophenol (4-ATP) is used as probe molecules to evaluate SERS activity of the thin films depending on the type and concentration of NPs. The results demonstrate that, SERS performances of the thin films are dependent on not only the type of NPs but also it depends on the concentration of NPs which forms thin films. The thin film having highest SERS activity could be used for the SERS-based immunoassays for the detection and identification of bacteria.