Belarusian university offers production of SERS-active substrates based on plasmonic nanomaterials under manufacturing agreement

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy is a high sensitive method that provides a rapid analysis of liquid and gas media. Most of the chemical compounds are characterized by their unique Raman spectrum, which registration allows to identify the target molecule. A portable Raman spectrometer is used for molecular identification analysis in circumstances when the use of laboratory equipment is hardly applied, for example, at customs. In this case, the analyzed substance is placed on a specific SERS-active substrate and scatters the signal, which is recorded by the portable spectrometer after inelastic interaction with light irradiation (laser), which is used for molecule excitation in Raman spectroscopy. The SERS-active substrate is usually based on metallic nanomaterials that are characterized by plasmonic properties. When surface plasmons localize on metal nanoparticles under the light radiation, an electromagnetic field significantly increases nearby. As a result, the number of scattered photons by molecules in the analyzed substance situated on the nanostructured metal surface increases and becomes high enough to be detected. The registered signal can be further investigated using software for Raman signal analyses. The traditional Raman spectroscopy opens up new possibilities of substance detection at extremely low concentrations due to the use of SERS-active substrates. Designed at Belarusian university SERS-active substrate is a nanocomposite material composed of surface-modified silicon by a nanostructured layer of silicon-, metal oxide- or polymer-based structures (porous silicon, nanowires, and nanowalls) covered by noble metals in their various forms. The area of the SERS-active region on the substrates varies from 0,01 to 1 cm2. The area of the finished substrate lays in a range from 0,5 to 9 cm2, depending on the customer's request. A detection limit can reach up to micro- or attomolar concentrations depending on an analyte, for example, for the 6G rhodamine dye, it is 10e-18 M. The main advantages of the developed SERS-active substrates in comparison to their analogues on the market: * compatibility of their fabrication process with the main technological operations of manufacturing devices of microelectronics and MOEMS (microoptoelectromechanical systems), * reduced cost compared to the cost of commercially available analogues, * detection limit (from 10e-4 to 10e-18 M), * high signal reproducibility and stability (signal spread is less than 13%), * increased resistance to oxidation, * extended shelf life (from 1 to 36 months). The offered SERS-active substrates can be used for medicine, biomedicine, criminology application, food quality evaluation, environmental studies, etc. Application examples: * early medical diagnostics, * anomalies detection caused by the emergence of biomolecules in the spectra of physiological fluids of patients - markers of various diseases in submolar concentrations. * determination of explosives and drugs that present in trace amounts in samples taken for forensic examination, doping control, monitoring of the state of wastewater, food and pharmaceutic quality control. Belarusian university offers production of SERS-active substrates under manufacturing agreement. Universities, institutes, research organizations, and private companies are considered as partners who can use substrates, for scientific research aimed at developing new or improving already known materials for practical use in all areas of activity that were mentioned above.