Noncontact tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for nanomaterials and biomedical applications

Dmitry N. Voylov; Vera Bocharova; Nickolay V. Lavrik; Ivan Vlassiouk; Georgios Polizos; Alexei Volodin; Yury M. Shulga; Alexander Kisliuk; Thirumagal Thiyagarajan; Duane D. Miller; Ramesh Narayanan; Bobby G. Sumpter; Alexei P. Sokolov

doi:10.1039/C9NA00322C

Noncontact tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for nanomaterials and biomedical applications†

Dmitry N. Voylov,

*^ab Vera Bocharova,

^b Nickolay V. Lavrik,

^c Ivan Vlassiouk,

^d Georgios Polizos,^d Alexei Volodin,^e Yury M. Shulga,

^f Alexander Kisliuk,^b Thirumagal Thiyagarajan,

^g Duane D. Miller,

^h Ramesh Narayanan,^g Bobby G. Sumpter

^c and Alexei P. Sokolov

^b

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA
E-mail: dmitry.voylov@tufts.edu, dvoylov@utk.edu

^b Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

^c Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

^d Energy & Transportation Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA

^e Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics RAS, Chernogolovka, Moscow region, Russia

^f National University of Science and Technology MISIS, Moscow, Russia

^g Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38103, USA

^h Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38103, USA

Abstract

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) has been established as one the most efficient analytical techniques for probing vibrational states with nanoscale resolution. While TERS may be a source of unique information about chemical structure and interactions, it has a limited use for materials with rough or sticky surfaces. Development of the TERS approach utilizing a non-contact scanning probe microscopy mode can significantly extend the number of applications. Here we demonstrate a proof of the concept and feasibility of a non-contact TERS approach and test it on various materials. Our experiments show that non-contact TERS can provide 10 nm spatial resolution and a Raman signal enhancement factor of 10⁵, making it very promising for chemical imaging of materials with high aspect ratio surface patterns and biomaterials.

Nanoscale Advances

Noncontact tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for nanomaterials and biomedical applications†

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