Development of bright nanotags for red-shifted and deep Raman

Surface enhanced Raman scattering is an extremely sensitive and selective technique that is rapidly emerging as an effective method for ultrasensitive analysis. It offers an increased enhancement over normal Raman scattering therefore is ideal for the detection of trace amounts of analyte and because of the molecularly specific spectra obtained it is ideal for detecting analytes in mixtures. The sensitivity of SERS also lends itself to stand off detection due to the intense signals which can be obtained from specially synthesised labels as well as ones which are commercially available. This will involve exploring the encapsulation of labelled nanoparticles in for example different polymers or silica. These will then be used inside different barrier materials, of varying, known, thickness, and used to optimise the SERS response of each material.
This project, in collaboration with Dstl will develop a system that is able to assess and sort the quality of synthesised nanoparticles to ensure that they give optimum SERS responses. Therefore, this project will focus on developing labelled SERS active nanotags which give a strong SERS response at 785 nm and above. This will require synthesising different types of metal nanoparticles which have absorbances towards the infrared region of the electromagnetic nanoparticles and developing coatings for the nanoparticles which are stable in the environment in which they will act as a label. This will involve exploring the encapsulation of labelled nanoparticles in for example different polymers or silica. Once the system has been optimised to give maximum SERS response, the system will also be used for the detection of nanotags at depth inside biological material. For example, the detection of nanotags inside tissue to simulate the detection of target nanotags in vivo.