16th NANOSCIENCE & NANOTECHNOLOGY CONFERENCE, Ankara, Turkey, 5 - 08 September 2022, pp.309
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a versatile technique which can be utilized in varying fields including
environmental protection, medical diagnostic, and homeland security. The enhancement mechanism in SERS mainly relies on
the electrical field magnification through the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances of the underlying SERS-active
materials. However, the uncontrolled aggregation of plasmonic nanoparticles lead to inconsistent field enhancement and SERS
signals. To overcome this problem, temperature-sensitive polymeric materials have been proposed to control hot-spot
formations. Smart polymer brushes exhibit rapid and reversible physicochemical or conformational changes under stimuli [1-
4]. In this study, temperature sensitive poly((2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl) methacrylate [P(MEO2-MA)] brushes with sulfidryl end
group on Si(001) surfaces were synthesized through interface-mediated RAFT polymerization technique. The fabricated
platforms were then modified with gold nanoparticles having 20 nm of size. Raman signal enhancement ability of the platforms
were evaluated using 10-3 M aqueous solutions of methylene blue, malachite green and crystal violent dyes at different
temperatures (below and above phase transition temperature). The obtained data indicate that SERS ability of the platforms
can be manipulated using temperature-responsive polymer brushes.