Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Characterization of Pristine and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes and Graphene

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene are at the center of a significant research effort due to their unique physical and chemical properties, which promise high technological impact. For the future development of all the foreseen applications, it is of particular interest the study of binding interactions between carbon nanostructures and functional groups. An appropriate method is the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which provides a large amplification of Raman signals when the probed molecule is adsorbed on a nanosized metallic surface. In this chapter, we present a review of principal results obtained applying SERS for the characterization of pristine and functionalized CNTs and graphene. The obtained results encourage us to consider SERS as a powerful method to obtain a rapid monitor of the procedures used to interface graphene and nanotubes

DNA wrapping around MWNTs and graphene: a SERS study

In recent years, carbon nanostructure as nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene are at the centre of a significant research effort due to the strong scientific and technological interest because of their unique physical and chemical properties: large surface area, excellent thermal and electric conductivity, high electron transfer kinetics and strong mechanical strength. Recently, a great attention has been paid to the interaction of DNA with carbon-based nanostructures such as C60, multiwalled-nanotubes (MWNTs), single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and graphene. The development of these studies is motivated by a wide spectrum of possible use of these materials e.g. as biosensors, drug delivery agents and diagnosis tools. In this work, we applied surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to the study of DNA/MWNTs and DNA/graphene systems

Fabrication and characterization of Au dimer antennas on glass pillars with enhanced plasmonic response

We report on the fabrication and dark-field spectroscopy characterization of Au dimer nanoantennas placed on top of SiO2 nanopillars. The reported process enables the fabrication of nanopillar dimers with gaps down to 15 nm and heights up to 1 μm. A clear dependence of the plasmonic resonance position on the dimer gap is observed for smaller pillar heights, showing the high uniformity and reproducibility of the process. It is shown how increasing the height of nanopillars significantly affects the recorded elastic scattering spectra from Au nanoantennas. The results are compared to finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) and finite-element method (FEM) simulations. Additionally, measured spectra are accompanied by dark-field microscopy images of the dimers, showing the pronounced change in color. Placing nanoantennas on nanopillars with a height comparable to the in-plane dimer dimensions results in an enhancement of the scattering response, which can be understood through reduced interaction of the near-fields with the substrate. When increasing the pillar height further, scattering by the pillars themselves manifests itself as a strong tail at lower wavelengths. Additionally, strong directional scattering is expected as a result of the interface between the nanoantennas and nanopillars, which is taken into account in simulations. For pillars of height close to the plasmonic resonance wavelength, the scattering spectra become more complex due to additional scattering peaks as a result of larger geometrical nonuniformities

Adsorption and Vibrational Study of Folic Acid on Gold Nanopillar Structures Using Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Spectroscopy

This paper presents a study of adsorption and vibrational features of folic acid, using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). A gold-capped silicon nanopillar (Au NP) with a height of 600 nm and a width of 120 nm was utilized to study the vibrational features of FA molecules adsorbed on the nanopillars within the high electromagnetic field areas. The adsorption behaviour of folic acid and the band assignment of the main vibrations together with the optimized geometry of folic acid and folic acid in the presence of a cluster of 10 gold atoms were assessed using the density functional theory (B3LYP(6-31G(d))) and the scalar relativistic effective core potential with a double-zeta basis set (LANL2DZ). The vibrations obtained from the solid-state folic acid and the folic acid on a gold cluster were in accordance with those observed experimentally. The analysis of the main vibrations indicated that the interaction of folic acid with the Au NP occurred primarily through the nitrogen atoms, from their pteridine ring. Finally, the obtained adsorption isotherm for folic acid was deduced from the analysis of the SERS spectra and it followed a negative cooperative binding model

Low-Power Photothermal Probing of Single Plasmonic Nanostructures with Nanomechanical String Resonators

We demonstrate the direct photothermal probing and mapping of single plasmonic nanostructures via the temperature induced detuning of nanomechanical string resonators. Single Au nanoslits are illuminated with a low-power polarized focused laser beam ({\lambda} = 633 nm). Polarization dependent heat generation in gold nanoslits is then imaged with high sensitivity. A sensitivity of -4.1 ppm/nW with respect to the illuminated light (beam diameter 5.0pm0.8 {\mu}m) is determined for a single nanoslit (1 {\mu}m long and 53 nm wide), which equals to a total light absorption of 16%. This results in a heating of 0.5 K for an illuminance of 8 nW/{\mu}m2. Our results show that nanomechanical resonators are a unique and robust analysis tool for the low-power investigation of thermoplasmonic effects in plasmonic hot spots