Ultrabright gap-enhanced Raman tags for high-speed bioimaging

Yuqing Zhang, Yuqing Gu, Jing He, Benjamin D. Thackray and Jian Ye ()
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Yuqing Zhang: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Yuqing Gu: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Jing He: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Benjamin D. Thackray: Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Jian Ye: Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is advantageous over fluorescence for bioimaging due to ultra-narrow linewidth of the fingerprint spectrum and weak photo-bleaching effect. However, the existing SERS imaging speed lags far behind practical needs, mainly limited by Raman signals of SERS nanoprobes. In this work, we report ultrabright gap-enhanced Raman tags (GERTs) with strong electromagnetic hot spots from interior sub-nanometer gaps and external petal-like shell structures, larger immobilization surface area, and Raman cross section of reporter molecules. These GERTs reach a Raman enhancement factor beyond 5 × 109 and a detection sensitivity down to a single-nanoparticle level. We use a 370 μW laser to realize high-resolution cell imaging within 6 s and high-contrast (a signal-to-background ratio of 80) wide-area (3.2 × 2.8 cm2) sentinel lymph node imaging within 52 s. These nanoprobes offer a potential solution to overcome the current bottleneck in the field of SERS-based bioimaging.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11829-y

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