Progress in plasmonic engineering of surface-enhanced Raman-scattering substrates toward ultra-trace analysis

Abstract

This review describes advances made toward the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in sensitive analysis and diagnostics. In the early sections of this review we briefly introduce the fundamentals of SERS including a discussion of SERS at the single-molecule level. Applications relevant to trace analysis, environmental monitoring, and homeland security and defense, for example high explosives and contaminant detection, are emphasized. Because the key to wider application of SERS analysis lies in the development of highly enhancing substrates, in the second half of the review we focus our attention on the extensive progress made in designing innovative soluble, supported, and ordered SERS-active nano-architectures to harness the potential of this technique toward solving current and emerging analytical tasks. No attempt or claim is made to review the field exhaustively in its entirety nor to cover all applications, but only to describe several significant milestones and progress made in these important areas and to provide some perspective on where the field is quickly moving.

I hate to admit this, but I had barely heard of Fresenius’ Journal of Analytical Chemistry before the summer of 1995. However, FJAC and Professor Fresenius became very important to me after that date. I had spent 1993–94 at the University of Essen on sabbatical as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in the laboratories of Professor Bernhard Schrader. I ran out of time to complete my projects, so I received approval and funding from AvH to finish during part of the summer of 1995. On my last day that summer, while we were frantically packing to head home to New Mexico, Bernhard received a phone call from Professor Fresenius about a candidate for his managing editor position. In his usual inimitable style, Bernhard told Wilhelm “Yes, that candidate would be okay, but I believe I have a better candidate here with me!” Needless to say, within five hours we were sitting with Professor Fresenius in his home in Wiesbaden discussing the managing editor position and my interest in it. Two months later, we returned to Wiesbaden for an interview. Four months after that, I uprooted my family and moved from New Mexico to Taunusstein. So compelling was Professor Fresenius in all aspects of his life.

During my time at the Institut Fresenius I learned an incredible amount from the Professor. I learned that advancing age does not have to reduce ones abilities, especially cognitive. I was continually amazed by Professor Fresenius’s recall of the details of essentially all the papers and posters given at any conference upon his return to Taunusstein. I learned that completeness and rigor are necessary attributes of any scientific study, and how to judge manuscripts based on those and other requirements. I learned that interpersonal skills are the most important attributes of a manager. I discovered that important business should never be conducted over the telephone or e-mail, because body language speaks volumes. This list could go on and on, but I hope I have conveyed the general idea, which is that my life was indescribably enriched by my experiences alongside Professor Fresenius at FJAC.

I left FJAC after two and a half fascinating years to return to research at Los Alamos. Professor Fresenius was extremely gracious about my leaving, and we maintained good contact and relations until his death. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Editorial Offices at the Institut Fresenius one more time, in February 2002 on my way to an IUPAC meeting in Tübingen. The following picture is from that visit, and shows several of the FJAC editorial staff: Professor Fresenius, Evelyn Wesermann, Renate Sterzel, Inger Katterwe, and me. I am very lucky to count all of the former staff of FJAC as dear friends. I am also very lucky to be counted among those whose lives have been immeasurably and indelibly enriched by having known Professor Wilhelm Fresenius.