Three-dimensional titania nano-fibrous architecture for molecular detection by Raman spectroscopy

A Raman spectroscopy based method of detecting an analyte, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a titanium substrate having a surface and producing thereon a sensor including an array of sensor locations in a predefined portion of the surface by irradiating the predefined portion of the surface with laser pulses having an intensity, a wavelength, a pulse duration, an effective irradiation time and a pulse repetition rate selected to produce, at each sensor location, a micro-pattern feature in the surface of the substrate and titanium based nanofibers that generally surround and envelop the micro-pattern feature, said nanofibers being comprised of a plurality of titanium based nanoparticles aligned into a self-supported web structure, wherein said array of sensor locations exhibit SERS activity;
• and
• b) exposing said sensor to a sample being tested for the presence of said analyte and thereafter recording a Raman spectra after irradiating the analyte sensor with a laser beam and correlating said Raman spectra to a characteristic Raman spectra of the analyte to determine the presence or absence of the analyte in the sample.

A titanium based Surface Enhance Raman Scattering (SERS) sensor, comprising:

• a titanium substrate having a surface and an array of sensor locations located in a predefined portion of the surface, each of said sensor locations including a micro-pattern feature in the surface of the substrate and nanofibers that generally surround and envelop the micro-pattern feature, said nanofibers being comprised of a plurality of titanium based nanoparticles aligned into a self-supported web structure, wherein said array of sensor locations exhibit SERS activity.