Surface enhanced spectroscopy-active composite nanoparticles
OwnerMichael J. Nataninventor
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Abstract
Metal nanoparticles associated with a spectroscopy-active (e.g., Raman-active) analyte and surrounded by an encapsulant are useful as sensitive optical tags detectable by surface-enhanced spectroscopy (e.g., surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy).
Claims32
A particle comprising:
- a surface-enhanced spectroscopy (SES) active metal nanoparticle, a SES active label associated with said SES-active metal nanoparticle, and an encapsulant for reducing aggregation surrounding said SES-active metal nanoparticle and said SES-active label, wherein said encapsulant comprises a material selected from the group consisting of glass, polymers, metal oxides, and metal sulfides, and wherein said particle has a measurable SES spectrum.
A particle comprising a gold nanoparticle having a diameter of between about 20 nm and about 100 nm, a surface-enhanced spectroscopy (SES)-active label associated with said gold nanoparticle, and glass having a thickness of between about 1 nm and about 15 nm surrounding said gold nanoparticle and said SES-active label, wherein said SES-active label has a measurable SES spectrum.
A particle comprising a surface-enhanced spectroscopy (SES) active metal nanoparticle, an aromatic label adsorbed on the surface of said (SES) active metal nanoparticle, and an encapsulant for reducing aggregation surrounding said (SES) active metal nanoparticle and said aromatic label, wherein said encapsulant comprises a material selected from the group consisting of glass, polymers, metal oxides, and metal sulfides.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.