Diamond Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) for Trace Chemical Sensing in Extreme Environments
Abstract
Surface enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) has established itself an invaluable tool for sensitive, even trace, chemical/biochemical sensing within the laboratory. Many different substrates have been used to support either plasmonic nanoparticles or plasmonic nanostructures. However, the vast majority of these SERS active materials are fragile and not suitable for use ‘in the field’. As we increasingly need to understand the environmental nature of both on-shore and off-shore locations, this is a major hinderance to the use of this technique that can detect most chemical species, even when in mixtures at trace levels. Single crystal high quality diamond, grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) methods has become an inexpensive widely available material in sizes beyond 2” in diameter. This has opened up many new applications for this remarkable material.
This presentation discusses the growth of plasmonic nanoparticles encapsulated in the very near-surface region of a single crystal diamond (SCD) window. This allows the passage of the Raman laser light from the backside of diamond towards the plasmonically active front of the diamond. Since the diamond is chemically and physically robust, a SERS device can be realised whereby all Raman components are sealed in a box with only the SERS active diamond facing the extreme environmental conditions often encountered in places of interest outside off the laboratory. Moreover, in terms of the scientific SERS operation, this backscattering rear-optical illumination form of SERS is shown to be more sensitive than similar measurements made using forward illumination.
Brief Biography
Prof. Richard Jackman holds UCLs Chair in Electronic Devices and heads UCLs Diamond Electronics Group (DEG) whose laboratories are within the London Centre for Nanotechnology. Richard moved to UCL in 1988, having previously held the Royal Society Eliz. Challenor Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford, to establish one of the first teams dedicated to studying the electronic properties of the then newly emerging material, diamond, grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) methods. Since then UCLs DEG has been responsible for licensing some of the first diamond device technology to reach commercial development by industry and has published patents relating to such. The group enjoys an international reputation and having published more than 250 journal articles relating to diamond technology, Richard regularly presents papers at the major conferences in the field. Pertinent to the current conference, Richard is currently heading a > $ 2M 4-year programme, funded by BAE Systems, relating to Diamond Sensor Technology for use in extreme environments. Professor Jackman is a Fellow of both the IET and IoP.
