Engineering Plasmonic Nanostructures for label-free SERS Detection of Neurotoxic Gases

In this work, we explore the SERS based sensing capabilities of core-shell nanostructures for gas detection of neurotoxic agents at ppm level. These nanostructures generate intense localized surface plasmon resonances which are engineered by tuning geometrical parameters, in particular the aspect ratio of the metallic nanorods and the thickness of the silica mesoporous shell to extend the spectral window for the SERS based sensing from the visible to the near-infrared. This nanoarchitecture enables the integration of sampling preconcentration and detection of Sarin gas surrogate in a single SERS unit.