Recent Progress of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can realize an ultrahigh sensitivity down to the single-molecule level by means of metal nanostructures (for example, Au, Ag, Cu, etc.).

Carbon materials (for example, carbon nanotubes, graphene, graphene oxide, 3D graphene foam, etc.) have been suggested as potential surface plasmon enhancers. The SERS effect of graphene was first discovered and reported in 2009, and the enhancement mechanism was identified as a chemical enhancement which had been induced by the strong interaction between molecules and graphene. Besides, graphene has exceptional properties, including a fluorescence quenching effect and chemical stability, and can be used as a protective layer of metal nanomaterials to enhance the stability of SERS substrates. Meanwhile, carbon nanotubes (for example, single-carbon nanotube, carbon nanotube forests, carbon nanotube arrays, etc.) can be used as plasmonic component to meet the requirements of intensive light scattering properties. Especially, hybrids of carbon materials and metal nanostructures show great SERS properties, high enhancement factors, high stability, high stability, and uniformity. 

To further expand the applications of SERS as a practical analytical technique, there are still three major challenges to overcome: first, the capability to produce a SERS-active substrate with a large number of hot spots that can give rise to high enhancement factors; second, the efficiency to place the targeted molecules in the hot spots; and third, the reproducibility of the first two issues, or quantitative analysis.

As for this section, we are appreciated your related studies on carbon related materials for SERS applications.

Prof. Dr. Jie Zhang
Dr. Xiaolei Zhang
Guest Editors

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