SERS spectra advantages

A demonstration of the advantage of high sensitivity in SERS spectroscopy is given in Fig. 3. This figure displays the SERS spectrum of the DNA base cytosine The laser power used to excite the sample was only 10 mW at 514.5 nm from an argon ion laser. An important observation is that the band positions obtained in SERS spectra are essentially the same as in NSRS spectra. The largest frequency shift... 

This study illustrates several potential advantages SERS possesses over other widely used biomedical spectroscopic tools such as fluorescence. For example, no fluorescent reporter molecule is needed for SERS, eliminating an assay step, thereby reducing assay time and cost. Additionally, the analyte-specific SERS spectrum may allow discrimination between specific binding to the assay substrate and nonspecific binding, which often plagues sandwich-type iimnunoassays. 

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