SERS tags based on silica microspheres with adsorbed gold nanostars
Оlga А. Inozemtseva1,2, Ekaterina S. Prikhozhdenko1, Anastasia M. Kartashova1,
Yulia A. Tyunina1,2, Andrey M. Zakharevich1, Andrey M. Burov2, Boris N. Khlebtsov2; 1Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia; 2Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Abstract
It is known that SERS tags have great potential as a platform for bioanalysis due to their strong optical signal, photostability and narrow spectral lines. However, obtaining microparticles with a Raman intensity sufficient to detect the label using a conventional Raman microscope is a difficult task. Composite structures of the SiO2/AuNSTs/SiO2 composition based on silicate microspheres containing an adsorbed layer of SERS activated gold nanostars have been obtained. Such particles turned out to be excellent SERS tags for obtaining intense Raman scattering signals from molecules with a high Raman cross section. Three types of thiolated aromatic molecules were used as Raman reporters: 4-nitrothiophenol, naphthalenethiol, and 1,4-benzenedithiol. The resulting silicon dioxide composite microspheres were re-encapsulated in a silicon dioxide shell to protect molecules with a high Raman cross section. The coating of SERS tags with a silicate shell significantly increases photostability, and such particles are quite stable in acidic and alkaline environments, as well as in the cellular substrate. This procedure can be used to include various organic Raman compounds in the SERS tags to obtain a large number of signals, and due to the possibility of measuring the SERS signal from a single microparticle, it is possible to implement multiplex determination of various microparticles on a single microscopic image. The silicate microparticles used in the work are an interesting alternative to other SERS labels due to their stability and easy chemical functionalization.
The study was supported by Russian Science Foundation, grant № 23-24-00062.
Speaker
Tyunina Yulia A.
Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms, Saratov scientific center of RAS
Russia
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