Issue 44, 2017

Determining molecular orientation via single molecule SERS in a plasmonic nano-gap

Abstract

In this work, plasmonic nano-gaps consisting of a silver nanoparticle coupled to an extended silver film have been fully optimized for single molecule Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) spectroscopy. The SERS signal was found to be strongly dependent on the particle size and the molecule orientation with respect to the field inside the nano-gap. Using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations to complement the experimental measurements, the complex interplay between the excitation enhancement and the emission enhancement of the system as a function of particle size were highlighted. Additionally, in conjunction with Density Functional Theory (DFT), the well-defined field direction in the nano-gap enables to recover the orientation of individual molecules.

Graphical abstract: Determining molecular orientation via single molecule SERS in a plasmonic nano-gap

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Jul 2017
Accepted
02 Oct 2017
First published
04 Oct 2017

Nanoscale, 2017,9, 17415-17421

Determining molecular orientation via single molecule SERS in a plasmonic nano-gap

A. R. L. Marshall, J. Stokes, F. N. Viscomi, J. E. Proctor, J. Gierschner, J. G. Bouillard and A. M. Adawi, Nanoscale, 2017, 9, 17415 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR05107G

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