METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SURFACE-ENHANCED RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY TAGS Russian patent published in 2023 - IPC G01N21/65 

FIELD: SERS tags.

SUBSTANCE: method for manufacturing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) tags involves the following steps: a) obtaining the first colloid, actually consisting of nanoparticles with a plasmonic surface and essentially the same size, dispersed in an aqueous solvent, and a stabilizing agent adsorbed on the surface of these nanoparticles and characterized by the value ξ - potential less than or equal to -25 mV; b) obtaining the second colloid, actually consisting of nanoparticles with a plasmonic surface and essentially the same size, dispersed in an aqueous solvent, active Raman scattering reporter molecules adsorbed on the surface of the said nanoparticles, and a stabilizing agent adsorbed on the surface of the said nanoparticles, and characterized by the value ξ - potential less than or equal to -25 mV; c) combining the first colloid with the second colloid so that the ratio of the first colloid nanoparticles to the second colloid nanoparticles is from about 25:1 to about 1:1, preferably from about 5:1 to about 1:1 to form the third colloid; and d) inducing aggregation of the nanoparticles. In this case, induction of aggregation of nanoparticles occurs using any of the steps d1)-d3) or a combination thereof: d1) mixing the third colloid obtained in step c) at a pH in the range from approximately 2.2 to the lowest pH value at which the active reporter molecules of Raman scattering have a total electric charge from 0 to 0.3; d2) adding a salt solution, preferably an inorganic salt solution, to the third colloid obtained in step c); d3) adding a water-soluble solvent to the third colloid obtained in step c); and e) stopping aggregation.

EFFECT: ability to expediently produce large quantities of SERS-tags, characterized by a narrow size distribution and a high proportion of aggregates with a small number, SERS-tags provide increased SERS responses in the group.

15 cl, 5 dwg, 6 tbl