Femtosecond Laser-Induced, Nanoparticle-Embedded Periodic Surface Structures on Crystalline Silicon for Reproducible and Multi-utility SERS Platforms.

Fabrication of reproducible and versatile surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates is crucial for real-time applications such as explosive detection for human safety and biological imaging for cancer diagnosis. However, it still remains a challenging task, even after several methodologies were developed by various research groups, primarily due to (a) a lack of consistency in detection of a variety of molecules (b) cost-effectiveness of the SERS substrates prepared, and (c) byzantine preparation procedures, etc. Herein, we establish a procedure for preparing reproducible SERS-active substrates comprised of laser-induced nanoparticle-embedded periodic surface structures (LINEPSS) and metallization of silicon (Si) LINEPSS. LINEPSS were fabricated using the technique of femtosecond laser ablation of Si in acetone. The versatile SERS-active substrates were then achieved by two ways, including the drop casting of silver (Ag)/gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) on Si LINEPSS and Ag plating on the Si LINEPSS structures. By controlling the LINEPSS grating periodicity, the effect of plasmonic nanoparticles/plasmonic plating on the Si NPs embedded periodic surface structures enormously improved the SPR strength, resulting in the consistent and superior Raman enhancements. The reproducible SERS signals were achieved by detecting the molecules of Methylene Blue (MB), 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT), and 5-amino-3-nitro-l,2,4-triazole (ANTA). The SERS signal strength is determined by the grating periodicity, which, in turn, is determined by the input laser fluence. The SERS-active platform with grating periodicity of 130 ± 10 nm and 150 ± 5 nm exhibited strong Raman enhancements of ∼108 for MB and ∼107 for ANTA molecules, respectively, and these platforms are demonstrated to be capable, even for multiple usages.

Field-dependent anisotropic microrheological and microstructural properties of dilute ferrofluids.

We have measured microrheological and microstructural properties of a superparamagnetic ferrofluid made of Mn0.75Zn0.25Fe2O4 (MZF) nanoparticles, using passive microrheology in a home-built inverted microscope. Thermal motion of a probe microsphere was measured for different values of an applied external magnetic field and analysed. The analysis shows anisotropy in magneto-viscous effect. Additional microrheological properties, such as storage modulus and loss modulus and their transition are also seen. We have also obtained microstructural properties such as elongational flow coefficient [Formula: see text] , relaxation time constant [Formula: see text] , coefficient of dissipative magnetization [Formula: see text] , etc., using the analysis given in Oliver Muller et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18, S2623, (2006) and Stefan Mahle et al., Phys. Rev. E 77, 016305 (2008) over our measured viscosity data. Our values for the above parameters are in agreement with earlier theoretical calculations and macro-rheological experimental measurements. These theoretical calculations consider an ideal situation of zero-shear limit, which is best approximated only in the passive microrheology technique described here and a first time measurement of all these parameters with passive microrheology.