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

Marshall, Addison R. L.; Stokes, Jamie; Viscomi, Francesco N.; Proctor, John E.; Gierschner, Johannes; Bouillard, Jean-Sebastien G.; Adawi, Ali M.

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.

Citation

Marshall, A. R. L., Stokes, J., Viscomi, F. N., Proctor, J. E., Gierschner, J., Bouillard, J. G., & Adawi, A. M. (2017). Determining molecular orientation via single molecule SERS in a plasmonic nano-gap. Nanoscale, 9(44), 17415-17421. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7NR05107G

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 2, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Oct 4, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 28, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2018
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Print ISSN: 2040-3364
• Electronic ISSN: 2040-3372
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 44
• Pages: 17415-17421
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7NR05107G
• Keywords: Plasmonics, Nanoparticle, Silver, Nano-gap, SERS
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/455421
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2017/NR/C7NR05107G#!divAbstract
• Additional Information: : This document is Similarity Check deposited; : Supplementary Information; : John E. Proctor (ORCID); : Johannes Gierschner (ORCID); : Johannes Gierschner (ResearcherID); : Ali M. Adawi (ORCID); : The Royal Society of Chemistry has an exclusive publication licence for this journal; : Single-blind; : Received 13 July 2017; Accepted 2 October 2017; Accepted Manuscript published 4 October 2017; Advance Article published 6 November 2017; Version of Record published 16 November 2017