Abstract

Raman spectrocopsopy is a technique which measures the unique Raman vibrations of analytes allowing for the acquisition of unique spectral fingerprints. However, due to the low strength of Raman scattering the sensitivity is poor. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) takes advantage of the electromagnetic and chemical interaction between a target molecule and a rough metallic surface to enhance Raman scattering. This enhancement results in low sensitivity making SERS a powerful tool for detection purposes in various fields such as food safety, medicine, security, and environmental monitoring [4]. However, the degree of enhancement is strongly dependent on the chemical properties, size, shape, and interparticle gap of the metallic nanostructures that are inherent to the SERS substrate. Consequently, conventional techniques used for fabricating SERS substrate are typically expensive and require a high degree of precision [5]. To date, various methods have been utilized to fabricate effective SERS substrates for the detection of trace amounts of analytes. However, the free diffusion of molecules in fluids often results in a significant proportion of analytes not being able to effectively access the active regions (i.e. hotspots) of the SERS substrate in such samples, limiting the potential enhancement of Raman signals.

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