Author Spotlight: Single-Molecule Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Measurements Enabled by Plasmonic DNA Origami Nanoantennas

Our research aims to develop new tools to detect single molecules by surface-enhanced Raman scattering or source. This is the only technique that provides a chemical fingerprint of a molecule and is sensitive enough to detect single molecules. In this way, detailed mechanistic information about chemical reactions can be obtained.

DNA origami nanostructures have been used to precisely position both plasmonic nanoparticles and target molecules. And this is required because the enhanced Raman scattering originates from a small nanometric volume between the nanoparticles which we call hotspots. And we have now created new plasmonic DNA origami nanoantenna, exactly for this purpose.

The main challenge is to place target molecules in such hotspots between two nanoparticles and collect Raman data from exactly one nanoantenna structure. To collect large amounts of data and efficient correlation between atomic force microscopy an Raman spectroscopy needs to be done. The plasmonic DNA origami nanoantennas allow for a reproducible production of a large number of plasmonic dimers in which the target molecule is precisely positioned in between the nanoparticles in the hotspot.

And through a correlation of the AFM and Raman data, we can now make sure that there's only a single molecule that is detected. Now we can track single molecules such as dye molecules or proteins in real time, and their behavior in the hotspots and their reactions to chemical changes in the environment. For example, the change of the spin state of single human molecules was recently monitored.

In the future, we aim to monitor chemical reactions at the single molecular level and to study their reaction mechanisms. In addition, we can use this technology to detect medically-relevant biomolecules with very high sensitivity.