A sandwich SERS detection system based on optical convergence and synergistic enhancement effects

Abstract

In this research, we propose a novel microlens surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate @ Au film detection system, which is shown to have excellent attributes. This scheme involves the construction of a PDMS plano-convex microlens SERS-active substrate in combination with an Au film. Due to the optical convergence from the microlens, the synergistic enhancement effects due to the Au film, and the “Au film–molecules–AgNPs” sandwich structure, an outstanding SERS performance is achieved. Multiple tests using a portable Raman spectrometer show that the optical convergence due to the microlens and the coupling effects contribute around 1.85× and 26.18× enhancement of the Raman signal, respectively. Even for objective lenses with different numerical apertures, simulations show that the microlens SERS substrate can further enhance the signal collection efficiency; this indicates that the detection scheme is universally applicable. Moreover, the microlens SERS substrate @ Au film system shows excellent time stability, and its Raman enhancement performance remains consistently above 98% of the original signal, even one week later. Our proposed system is simple to prepare, is low cost and has many potential practical applications, which include the detection of biochemical samples.