Taking the Plunge: Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of Functionalized Gold Triangles in H2O via TERS

Journal Article · Thu Mar 28 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Physical Chemistry C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b00867· OSTI ID:1524158

Bhattarai, Ashish ^[1]; Joly, Alan G. ^[1]; Krayev, Andrey V. ^[2]; El-Khoury, Patrick Z.  ^[1]

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1. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
2. HORIBA JOBIN YVON INC

We demonstrate fast (0.25 s/pixel) nanoscale chemical imaging in aqueous solution via tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS), with sub-15 nm spatial resolution. The substrate consists of 4-mercaptobenzonitrile-functionalized monocrystalline gold triangular platelets immersed in H2O, which we map using a gold-coated AFM probe illuminated using a 633 nm laser source. We find that the recorded TERS images trace the enhanced local optical fields that are sustained towards the edges and corners of the triangles. In effect, we directly map local optical fields of a plasmonic substrate in aqueous solution through molecular TERS. Overall, our described platform and approach may generally be used for chemical and biological imaging, and potentially, to follow chemical transformations at solid-liquid interfaces through TERS.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1524158
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-140448
• Journal Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 123, Issue 12
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English