Silicon-based reproducible and active surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates for sensitive, specific, and multiplex DNA detection

Silicon-based active and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate, i.e., silver nanoparticles decorated-silicon wafers ( AgNPs@Si), is employed for constructing high-performance sensors. Significantly, the AgNPs@Si, facilely prepared via in situ AgNPs growth on silicon wafers, features excellent SERS reproducibility and high enhancement factor. Our experiment further demonstrates such resultant silicon-based SERS substrate is efficacious for multiplex, sensitive, and specific DNA detection. In particular, single-base mismatched DNA with low concentrations is readily discriminated by using the AgNPs@Si. Moreover, the silicon-based sensor exhibits adequate multiplexing capacity, enabling unambiguous identification of the dual-target DNA detection. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3701731]