Premium
Dielectrophoretic positioning of single nanoparticles on atomic force microscope tips for tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Leiterer Christian,
DeckertGaudig Tanja,
Singh Prabha,
Wirth Janina,
Deckert Volker,
Fritzsche Wolfgang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201400530
Subject(s) - raman spectroscopy , materials science , nanotechnology , microscope , dielectrophoresis , nanoparticle , plasmon , microscopy , raman microscope , spectroscopy , surface enhanced raman spectroscopy , optical microscope , raman scattering , optoelectronics , optics , scanning electron microscope , microfluidics , physics , quantum mechanics , composite material
Tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy, a combination of Raman spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy, is a powerful technique to detect the vibrational fingerprint of molecules at the nanometer scale. A metal nanoparticle at the apex of an atomic force microscope tip leads to a large enhancement of the electromagnetic field when illuminated with an appropriate wavelength, resulting in an increased Raman signal. A controlled positioning of individual nanoparticles at the tip would improve the reproducibility of the probes and is quite demanding due to usually serial and labor‐intensive approaches. In contrast to commonly used submicron manipulation techniques, dielectrophoresis allows a parallel and scalable production, and provides a novel approach toward reproducible and at the same time affordable tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy tips. We demonstrate the successful positioning of an individual plasmonic nanoparticle on a commercial atomic force microscope tip by dielectrophoresis followed by experimental proof of the Raman signal enhancing capabilities of such tips.