SERS decoding of micro gold shells moving in microfluidic systems

In this study, in situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) decoding was demonstrated in microfluidic chips using novel thin micro gold shells modified with Raman tags. The micro gold shells were fabricated using electroless gold plating on PMMA beads with diameter of 15 pm. These shells were sophisticatedly optimized to produce the maximum SERS intensity, which minimized the exposure time for quick and safe decoding. The shell surfaces produced well-defined SERS spectra even at an extremely short exposure time, 1 ms, for a single micro gold shell combined with Raman tags such as 2-naphthalenethiol and benzenethiol. The consecutive SERS spectra from a variety of combinations of Raman tags were successfully acquired from the micro gold shells moving in 25 pm deep and 75 pm wide channels on a glass microfluidic chip. The proposed functionalized micro gold shells exhibited the potential of an on-chip microfluidic SERS decoding strategy for micro suspension array.