SERS Orientational Imaging of Silver Nanoparticle Dimers

This Article introduces surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) orientational imaging as a powerful far-field optical technique for determining the in-plane and out-of-plane orientations of SERS-active nanoparticle dimers. Optical images of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) SERS emission patterns are measured and correlated with atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the associated SERS-active silver nanoparticle dimers. The AFM is used to measure individual silver nanoparticle dimer orientations and height asymmetry, defining in-plane and out-of-plane angles associated with the dimer geometry. Theoretical emission pattern images based on these angles are generated using a simple dipole emission model and show excellent agreement with the experimental emission patterns. This technique provides a rapid all-optical technique to analyze the orientation of SERS active nanoparticle dimers.

[1]  K. Willets,et al.  Correlated Super-Resolution Optical and Structural Studies of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Hot Spots in Silver Colloid Aggregates , 2011 .

[2]  Mikael Käll,et al.  Angular distribution of surface-enhanced Raman scattering from individual au nanoparticle aggregates. , 2011, ACS nano.

[3]  Sarah M. Stranahan,et al.  Super-resolution optical imaging of single-molecule SERS hot spots. , 2010, Nano letters.

[4]  G. Haran.  Single-molecule Raman spectroscopy: a probe of surface dynamics and plasmonic fields. , 2010, Accounts of chemical research.

[5]  Edward S Yeung,et al.  Three dimensional orientational imaging of nanoparticles with darkfield microscopy. , 2010, Analytical chemistry.

[6]  Jeremy J. Baumberg,et al.  Understanding the Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy 'Background' , 2010 .

[7]  Hongyu Chen,et al.  Measuring ensemble-averaged surface-enhanced Raman scattering in the hotspots of colloidal nanoparticle dimers and trimers. , 2010, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[8]  Christine H. Moran,et al.  Understanding the SERS Effects of Single Silver Nanoparticles and Their Dimers, One at a Time. , 2010, The journal of physical chemistry letters.

[9]  P. Etchegoin,et al.  Single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of nonresonant molecules. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[10]  Weiyang Li,et al.  Dimers of silver nanospheres: facile synthesis and their use as hot spots for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. , 2009, Nano letters.

[11]  Hongxing Xu,et al.  Managing light polarization via plasmon–molecule interactions within an asymmetric metal nanoparticle trimer , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[12]  R. V. Van Duyne,et al.  Probing the structure of single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering hot spots. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[13]  K. Willets,et al.  Investigating tip-nanoparticle interactions in spatially correlated total internal reflection plasmon spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy , 2008 .

[14]  Yingzhou Huang,et al.  Polarization dependence of surface-enhanced Raman scattering in gold nanoparticle-nanowire systems. , 2008, Nano letters.

[15]  Thomas R Huser,et al.  Surface-enhanced Raman scattering from individual au nanoparticles and nanoparticle dimer substrates. , 2005, Nano letters.

[16]  N. Belabas,et al.  2D correlation analysis of the continuum in single molecule surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[17]  Lukas Novotny,et al.  Single-molecule orientations determined by direct emission pattern imaging , 2004 .

[18]  G. Schatz,et al.  Electromagnetic fields around silver nanoparticles and dimers. , 2004, The Journal of chemical physics.

[19]  Louis E. Brus,et al.  Single Molecule Raman Spectroscopy at the Junctions of Large Ag Nanocrystals , 2003 .

[20]  Yale E. Goldman,et al.  Three-dimensional structural dynamics of myosin V by single-molecule fluorescence polarization , 2003, Nature.

[21]  Jörg Enderlein,et al.  Orientation imaging of single molecules by wide-field epifluorescence microscopy , 2003 .

[22]  B. Hecht,et al.  Probing confined fields with single molecules and vice versa , 2001, Journal of microscopy.

[23]  Novotny,et al.  Orientational imaging of single molecules by annular illumination , 2000, Physical review letters.

[24]  Shimon Weiss,et al.  Measuring conformational dynamics of biomolecules by single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy , 2000, Nature Structural Biology.

[25]  Robert M. Dickson,et al.  Imaging Three-Dimensional Single Molecule Orientations , 1999 .

[26]  Louis E. Brus,et al.  Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Individual Rhodamine 6G Molecules on Large Ag Nanocrystals , 1999 .

[27]  R. Dasari,et al.  Single Molecule Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) , 1997 .

[28]  Steven R. Emory,et al.  Probing Single Molecules and Single Nanoparticles by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering , 1997, Science.

[29]  D. Meisel,et al.  Adsorption and surface-enhanced Raman of dyes on silver and gold sols , 1982 .