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NanoPhotonics Centre

 
Plasmon Chemistry/Sensing Image

An overview of the group's research into plasmon chemistry and sensing.

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

 

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)

 

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)

 

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)

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)

 

Latest news

NanoPhotonics @ Femincam

29 September 2023

PhD students from the NanoPhotonics Centre have attended Femincam, a one-day conference celebrating emerging women in science and leaders in electronic materials. During the event Sara Rocchetti also presented her poster on “Amplified plasmonic forces from DNA-origami scaffolded single dyes in nanogaps”.

ICAVS flash presentations prizes awarded to Marika and Yuling!

4 September 2023

A number of group members recently attended ICAVS12 in Krakow. Congratulations to Yuling who won the prize for the best flash presentation and to Marika for winning the best flash presentation audience award!

Sara Rocchetti - Best poster at Chemical and NanoScience symposium

17 May 2023

Sara Rocchetti won the best poster award at the 10th Chemical and NanoScience symposium Newcastle (CNSN-X) with her work on DNA origami and nanophotonics. Well done!