In this research, a simple method of fabricating randomly distributed, core-shell-like plasmonic nanoparticles is presented. A modified nanosphere lithography method was used to create non-periodic arrays of nanoholes filled with metal-capped dielectric spheres. This approach is very quick, cost-effective and allows for the nanostructurization of multiple substrates at the same time. In this study, the influence of geometrical and material properties of the plasmonic response, SERS enhancement factor and uniformity of Raman signal of such structures was investigated. The optimization of the structures was carried out theoretically by means of FDTD calculations and then confirmed experimentally.

The distribution and morphology of cortical actin filaments are essential in cell dynamics, such as cell division. In this work, we propose a plasmonic approach for long term imaging to study the specifications of actin dynamics in live cells. Here, we employ a new imaging setup which can acquire a set of images with spatial sparsity. Long-term and super-resolution imaging can be achieved by our imaging setup. We demonstrate examples of different morphologies of cortical actin filaments during cell division.

The method of delivery is considered to be one of the significant hurdles for CRISPR technologies. Conventional delivery of CRISPR by viral vectors are subject to their immunogenicity. Non-viral vectors methods are preferable but are limited by their biocompatibility and precision. Nano-plasmonic particles have shown great potential as noninvasive and spatiotemporally controllable vehicles for biomacromolecule delivery. Hereby, as a safe and precise way to delivery of CRISPR, we propose a remote optically manipulating method based on gold nanorods carrier. We have characterized gold nano-plasmonic carriers on single particle level by imaging spectroscopy. Then we have demonstrated the precise manipulation of individual nano plasmonic carriers on cells using optical trapping system. Lastly, the biocompatibility of the method is shown.

Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is an emerging analytical technique used for characterization of biological and non-biological structures. Plasmonic properties of nanostructures are main factors influencing SERS performance. Thus, fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures having different plasmonic properties is a significant research interest. Recently, guided-mode resonances (GMRs) in diatoms have significant attention due to their potential contribution to SERS enhancement. Furthermore, there is also evidence showing that diatoms can be utilized in improving SERS enhancement by optically coupling the GMRs of the diatom frustules with the LSPRs of the nanostructures. In this study, inexpensive, robust, and flexible diatom-based SERS platforms having different number of layers on a box tape are fabricated using layer-by-layer assembly of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The fabricated SERS platforms are characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SERS performance of the platforms was evaluated using 4 aminothiophenol (4-ATP) and rhodamine-6G. The results demonstrate that SERS performance of the platforms is dependent on the number of layers of the structures. The SERS platform having highest SERS activity can be used for the characterization of any molecules of interest

SERS has been actively researched due to its powerful label-free sensing mechanism. However, SERS sensors, although sensitive and powerful, are still not reproducible and not uniform for practical adoption. Our unique approach to SERS sensors satisfies all the sought-after characteristics: a SERS substrate that is uniform, reproducible, sensitive, large, and cost-effective. Specifically, we achieve a sensing uniformity of 4.2% averaged over 4 points and 2.3% over 16 points throughout the entire 6” substrate, and a SERS enhancement of 4.6 x 10^8. SERS spectra from four DNA bases are measured and their corresponding peaks are well defined down to 10 pM concentration.