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Nanostructured organic semiconductor films for molecular detection with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

π-Conjugated organic semiconductors have been explored in several optoelectronic devices, yet their use in molecular detection as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-active platforms is unknown. Herein, we demonstrate that SERS-active, superhydrophobic and ivy-like nanostructured films of a m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2017-09, Vol.16 (9), p.918-924
Main Authors: Yilmaz, Mehmet, Babur, Esra, Ozdemir, Mehmet, Gieseking, Rebecca L., Dede, Yavuz, Tamer, Ugur, Schatz, George C., Facchetti, Antonio, Usta, Hakan, Demirel, Gokhan
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Language:English
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Summary:π-Conjugated organic semiconductors have been explored in several optoelectronic devices, yet their use in molecular detection as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-active platforms is unknown. Herein, we demonstrate that SERS-active, superhydrophobic and ivy-like nanostructured films of a molecular semiconductor, α,ω-diperfluorohexylquaterthiophene (DFH-4T), can be easily fabricated by vapour deposition. DFH-4T films without any additional plasmonic layer exhibit unprecedented Raman signal enhancements up to 3.4 × 10 3 for the probe molecule methylene blue. The combination of quantum mechanical computations, comparative experiments with a fluorocarbon-free α,ω-dihexylquaterthiophene (DH-4T), and thin-film microstructural analysis demonstrates the fundamental roles of the π-conjugated core fluorocarbon substitution and the unique DFH-4T film morphology governing the SERS response. Furthermore, Raman signal enhancements up to ∼10 10 and sub-zeptomole (
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/nmat4957