Speaker: Prof. Svetlana Sukhishvili, Stevens Institute of Technology

Title: Assemblies of Metal Nanoparticles for SERS-based Chemical Sensing

Abstract: I will summarize work we have been doing at Stevens on the development of SERS-active substrates and photonic cristal fibers, and discuss challenges and opportunities in SERS-based sensing. Specific topics will inculde assembly of silver and gold nanoparticles and nanoshells for optimized SERS enhancement, understanding contributions of electromagnetic and chemical mechanisms in SERS, and controlling molecular binding with nanoparticles. I will also discuss prospective applications of our detection platforms for ultra-sensitive detection of a variety of functional molecules using SERS. Our research has been done in close collaboration with Prof. Du's research group.