R-013

Gediminas Niaura [1]

gediminas.niaura@ftmc.lt

M. Talaikis [1], L. Mikoliūnaitė [1], V. Šablinskas [1], V. Sivakov [2], Sh. Yadav [2], G. Sirgėdaitė [1], S. Adomavičiūtė-Grabusovė [1], E. Stankevičius [1]

1Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, (FTMC) Vilnius, Lithuania

2Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Department Spectroscopy/Imaging, Jena, Germany

Ultraviolet surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy for analysis of biomolecules

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy provides vibrational signatures of molecules adsorbed or near the metal nanostructures with high sensitivity and molecular specificity. However, application of the technique in biomedical laboratories is limited due to poor reproducibility, repeatability, and spectral interference from impurities. Most biological molecules, including DNA bases and aromatic amino acid residues in peptides and proteins, significantly absorbs in the ultraviolet spectral region providing an additional resonance enhancement of Raman signal possibility. Therefore, ultraviolet surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (UV-SERRS) holds promise for reliable, label-free, and ultrasensitive detection of biomolecules under investigation with negligible spectral contribution from impurities [1,2]. However, advancement in this field is limited by the lack of stable and suitable substrates able to support surface enhancement in the UV spectral region. 

We have fabricated nanostructured cobalt, copper, palladium, and other materials for application in UV-SERRS. Various preparation methods, including laser ablation and wet-chemical synthesis of nanostructured-surfaces, were employed. The in-situ UV-SERRS spectroelectrochemistry studies of adsorbed adenine molecules, as well as the origin of enhancement mechanism, will be discussed in details in the presentation.  

Acknowledgements: This work received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT). The project agreement number is S-MIP-23-30 “Magneto-plasmonic nanoparticles for UV-SERRS detection of low-molecular weight biomarkers (MAG-UV-SERRS)”. VS and ShY acknowledge the financial support by the German Science Foundation (DFG) under grant number 465289819 (SI1893/30-1).

[1] B. Sharma, R.R. Frontiera, A.-I. Henry, E. Ringe, R.P. Van Duyne, SERS: Materials, applications, and the future, Materialstoday 15 (2012) 16-25.

[2] A. Remeikienė, I. Matulaitienė, A. Selskis, M. Talaikis, G. Niaura, Electrochemical UV-SERS of adenine on cobalt electrode, Spectrochim. Acta A 330 (2025) 125733.