Intense plasmonic hotspots associated with carefully designed nanoarchitectures dramatically enhance sensing capabilities, allowing us to observe individual molecules and follow chemical reactions in real time.
Current Work
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Chemical reactions at the nanoscale Incorporating nanosized reactors allows exact control and selectivity of reactants. Using cucurbituril molecules as both reaction vessels and spacers between gold nanoparticles ensures that the reaction happens exactly in the plasmonic hotspot, allowing for extremely sensitive SERS measurements Key papers: Taylor et al., Nano Lett 13, 5985 (2013)
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Plasmonic molecular sensing Using the immense enhancement created by plasmonic structures combined with carefully tailored molecular scaffolding, incredibly sensitive SERS sensors can be formed that allow the observation of diffusion of single molecules through lipid bilayers, and can detect trace amounts of molecules in aqueous environments and body fluids.
Key papers: Kasera et al., Scientific Reports 4, 6785 (2014) Taylor et al., Science Reports 4, 5490 (2014)
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Tuneable ultrafast SERS We developed a new broadband spectrally tuneable system for spectrally-resolved SERS. By scanning the excitation wavelength across the whole visible spectrum, we can investigate the near- and far-field optical response of individual plasmonic nanostructures in detail. This study provides new insights into the physical properties of tightly confined nano-gaps. The system can also be exploited for frequency-optimized Raman and SERS measurements on a large variety of samples.
Key papers: Lombardi et al., ACS Photonics 3, 471 (2016) Steuwe et al., Nano Lett 11, 5339 (2011)
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Previous Work
Self-assembled plasmonic nanogaps Using a rigid sub-nm wide space molecule known as CB, we are able to create plasmonic aggregates in solution which have very larger and reproducible SERS signals that are extremely useful for sensing. We have patented this technology, and are developing various demonstrators based on it.
Key papers: Taylor et al., ACS Nano 5, 3878 (2011) |
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