Tip-enhanced raman scattering of glucose molecules

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Sciences; DOI 10.29026/oes.2025.240027 , discusses tip-enhanced Raman scattering of glucose molecules.

 

Glucose serves as a critical energy source for human physiological activities, and its concentration fluctuations and metabolic disorders are intricately linked to numerous diseases. Consequently, accurately acquiring the structural information of glucose molecules holds significant implications for the advancement of life sciences, disease treatment, molecular research，etc. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is an effective technique for obtaining molecular “fingerprint information”, offering advantages such as non-contact and label-free detection. However, the Raman scattering cross-section of glucose molecules is exceedingly small, and their adsorption on bare metal surfaces is weak or nonexistent, impeding the interaction between the localized electric field and glucose molecules. To address this issue, surface modification or functionalization methods have been proposed to enhance the adsorption of glucose molecules on bare metal, thereby improving their Raman scattering intensity. Nevertheless, due to the static plasmon cavity characteristic of SERS, it can only randomly detect partial Raman modes of glucose molecules and may be interfered by Raman peaks of bridging agent molecules. Therefore, accurately obtaining the "fingerprint information" of glucose molecules remains a formidable challenge.

 

The authors of this article integrated fiber vector light field with scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) to develop a tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) platform, as illustrated in Figure 1a. This fiber tip-based SNOM-TERS platform efficiently generates a background-free tip nanofocusing light source (Figure 1b), enhancing the electric field intensity of the tip nanofocusing light source by two orders of magnitude (Figure 1c). Leveraging the shear-force feedback control technology of SNOM, this platform precisely regulates the spatial relationship between the tip nanofocusing light source and glucose molecules, thereby significantly improving the Raman scattering efficiency of glucose molecules. As depicted in Figure 1d, the SNOM-TERS platform enabled full-spectrum excitation of the Raman vibration modes of glucose molecules within the spectral window of 400-3200 cm^-1, confirming the presence of chain glucose molecules through the observed C=O stretching vibration (Figure 1d). The fiber tip-based SNOM-TERS platform offers a robust tool for accurately identifying molecular Raman scattering and contributes to the advancement of biomolecular structure analysis techniques. 

 

Keywords: tip-enhanced Raman scattering / scanning near-field optical microscope / fiber vector light field / tip nanofocusing light source

 

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Opto-Electronic Science (OES) is a peer-reviewed, open access, interdisciplinary and international journal published by The Institute of Optics and Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences as a sister journal of Opto-Electronic Advances (OEA, IF=15.3). OES is dedicated to providing a professional platform to promote academic exchange and accelerate innovation. OES publishes articles, reviews, and letters of the fundamental breakthroughs in basic science of optics and optoelectronics.

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Xie ZL, Meng C, Yue DH et al. Tip-enhanced Raman scattering of glucose molecules. Opto-Electron Sci 4, 240027 (2025). doi: 10.29026/oes.2025.240027 

 

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