School of Science, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2024;64(2):472-516. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2106547. Epub 2022 Aug 5.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is widely used as a powerful analytical technology in cutting-edge areas such as food safety, biology, chemistry, and medical diagnosis, providing ultra-fast, ultra-sensitive, nondestructive characterization and achieving ultra-high detection sensitivity even down to the single-molecule level. Development of Raman spectroscopy is strongly dependent on high-performance SERS substrates, which have long evolved from the early days of rough metal electrodes to periodic nanopatterned arrays building on solid supporting substrates. For rigid SERS substrates, however, their applications are restricted by sophisticated pretreatments for detecting solid samples with non-planar surfaces. It is therefore essential to reassert the principles in constructing flexible SERS substrates. Herein, we comprehensively review the state-of-the-art in understanding, preparing and using flexible SERS. The basic mechanisms behind the flexible SERS are briefly outlined, typical design strategies are highlighted and diversified selection of materials in preparing flexible SERS substrates are reviewed. Then the recent achievements of various interdisciplinary applications based on flexible SERS substrates are summarized. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for future evolution of flexible SERS and their applications are demonstrated. We propose new research directions focused on stimulating the real potential of SERS as an advanced analytical technique for commercialization.
表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）被广泛应用于食品安全、生物学、化学和医学诊断等前沿领域，是一种强大的分析技术，提供超快速、超高灵敏度、非破坏性的特性描述，并实现了超高的检测灵敏度，甚至达到单分子水平。拉曼光谱学的发展强烈依赖于高性能的 SERS 基底，它已经从早期的粗糙金属电极发展到基于固体支撑基底的周期性纳米图案阵列。然而，对于刚性 SERS 基底，其应用受到检测非平面固体样品的复杂预处理的限制。因此，重新强调构建柔性 SERS 基底的原则至关重要。本文全面综述了理解、制备和使用柔性 SERS 的最新进展。简要概述了柔性 SERS 的基本机制，突出了典型的设计策略，并综述了制备柔性 SERS 基底时材料的多样化选择。然后总结了基于柔性 SERS 基底的各种跨学科应用的最新成果。最后，展示了柔性 SERS 及其应用未来发展的挑战和展望。我们提出了新的研究方向，重点关注激发 SERS 作为一种先进分析技术在商业化中的实际潜力。
