4.7 Review

Beyond the Visible: A Review of Ultraviolet Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrate Compositions, Morphologies, and Performance

Journal

NANOMATERIALS
Volume 13, Issue 15, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nano13152177

Keywords

ultraviolet surface-enhanced Raman scattering (UV-SERS); ultraviolet surface-enhanced resonant Raman scattering (UV-SERRS); deep-ultraviolet surface-enhanced Raman scattering (DUV-SERS); deep-ultraviolet surface-enhanced resonant Raman scattering (DUV-SERRS); UV-SERS substrates; enhancement factor (EF); limit of detection (LOD); photoluminescence (PL); sensors

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The field of ultraviolet surface-enhanced Raman scattering (UV-SERS) has lagged behind its visible and near-infrared counterparts despite its potential advantages. A major challenge is the lack of accessible and reproducible UV-SERS substrates. In this review, we assess the reported UV-SERS substrates based on their composition, morphology, and performance, and discuss the challenges and opportunities in this field. We also explore potential application areas for UV-SERS, such as detecting environmentally and militarily relevant analytes, in situ experimentation, defect engineering, extreme environment materials development, and biosensing.
The first observation of ultraviolet surface-enhanced Raman scattering (UV-SERS) was 20 years ago, yet the field has seen a slower development pace than its visible and near-infrared counterparts. UV excitation for SERS offers many potential advantages. These advantages include increased scattering intensity, higher spatial resolution, resonance Raman enhancement from organic, biological, and semiconductor analytes, probing UV photoluminescence, and mitigating visible photoluminescence from analytes or substrates. One of the main challenges is the lack of readily accessible, effective, and reproducible UV-SERS substrates, with few commercial sources available. In this review, we evaluate the reported UV-SERS substrates in terms of their elemental composition, substrate morphology, and performance. We assess the best-performing substrates with regard to their enhancement factors and limits of detection in both the ultraviolet and deep ultraviolet regions. Even though aluminum nanostructures were the most reported and best-performing substrates, we also highlighted some unique UV-SERS composition and morphology substrate combinations. We address the challenges and potential opportunities in the field of UV-SERS, especially in relation to the development of commercially available, cost-effective substrates. Lastly, we discuss potential application areas for UV-SERS, including cost-effective detection of environmentally and militarily relevant analytes, in situ and operando experimentation, defect engineering, development of materials for extreme environments, and biosensing.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available