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Polyvinylpyrrolidone- (PVP-) coated silver aggregates for high performance surface-enhanced Raman scattering in living cells

2009; IOP Publishing; Volume: 20; Issue: 44 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/0957-4484/20/44/445102

1361-6528

Xuebin Tan, Zhuyuan Wang, Jing Yang, Chunyuan Song, Ruohu Zhang, Yiping Cui,

Advanced Nanomaterials in Catalysis

A biocompatible and stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probe has been successfully synthesized through a simple route with silver aggregates. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a biocompatible polymer, was utilized to control the aggregation process and improve the chemical stability of the aggregates. Extinction spectroscopy and TEM results show the aggregation degree and core–shell structure of the probe. It is found that when we employ 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4MBA), crystal violet (CV), Rhodamine 6G (R6G) or 4,4'-bipyridine molecules as Raman reporters, the SERS signal from the proposed probe can remain at a high level under aggressive chemical environments, even after being incorporated into living cells. In comparison with the traditional probes without the PVP shell, the new ones exhibit strong surface-enhanced effects and low toxicity towards living cells. We demonstrate that the PVP-coated silver aggregates are highly SERS effective, for which the fabrication protocol is advantageous in its simplicity and reproducibility.