Issue 1, 2011

Microfluidic fabrication of SERS-active microspheres for molecular detection

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrated a microfluidic system for fabricating microspheres with hierarchical surface nanopatterns for molecular detection based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Briefly, a photocurable silica suspension was emulsified into monodisperse droplets using a microfluidic device composed of two coaxial glass capillaries. The silica particles in each droplet protruded through the interface and spontaneously formed a hexagonal array. After polymerization of the droplets, we selectively decorated the exposed areas of the silica particles with silver nanoparticles through electroless deposition. The resulting hierarchically-structured microspheres showed high sensitivity and fast binding kinetics in molecular detection based on SERS, owing to the dense array of hot spots on each microsphere and high mobility of the microspheres, respectively. Notably, the SERS signals from molecules adsorbed on the microspheres could be detected in both the dried and suspension states. In addition, we demonstrated that the SERS-active microspheres can be functionalized into structural colored or magnetoresponsive microspheres for advanced applications.

Graphical abstract: Microfluidic fabrication of SERS-active microspheres for molecular detection

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jun 2010
Accepted
10 Sep 2010
First published
20 Oct 2010

Lab Chip, 2011,11, 87-92

Microfluidic fabrication of SERS-active microspheres for molecular detection

H. Hwang, S. Kim and S. Yang, Lab Chip, 2011, 11, 87 DOI: 10.1039/C0LC00125B

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