RT Journal Article T1 Supported ultra-thin alumina membranes with graphene as efficient interference enhanced raman scattering platforms for sensing A1 Aguilar Pujol, Montserrat A1 Ramírez Jiménez, Rafael A1 Xifre Pérez, Elisabet A1 Cortijo Campos, Sandra A1 Bartolomé, Javier A1 F. Marsal, Lluis A1 de Andrés, Alicia AB The detection of Raman signals from diluted molecules or biomaterials in complex mediais still a challenge. Besides the widely studied Raman enhancement by nanoparticle plasmons,interference mechanisms provide an interesting option. A novel approach for amplification platformsbased on supported thin alumina membranes was designed and fabricated to optimize the interferenceprocesses. The dielectric layer is the extremely thin alumina membrane itself and, its metallicaluminum support, the reflecting medium. A CVD (chemical vapor deposition) single-layer grapheneis transferred on the membrane to serve as substrate to deposit the analyte. Experimental results andsimulations of the interference processes were employed to determine the relevant parameters ofthe structure to optimize the Raman enhancement factor (E.F.). Highly homogeneous E.F. over theplatform surface are obtained, typically 370 (5%), for membranes with ~100 nm pore depth, ~18 nmpore diameter and the complete elimination of the Al2O3 bottom barrier layer. The combined surfaceenhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and interference amplification is also demonstrated by depositingultra-small silver nanoparticles. This new approach to amplify the Raman signal of analytes is easilyobtained, low-cost and robust with useful enhancement factors (~400) and allows only interference orcombined enhancement mechanisms, depending on the analyte requirements. PB MDPI AG. SN 2079-4991 YR 2020 FD 2020-01-01 LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/35582 UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/35582 LA eng NO The research leading to these results has received funding from Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-096918-B-C41) and (RTI2018-094040-B-I00) and by the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) 2017-SGR-1527. S.C. acknowledges the grant BES-2016-076440 from MINECO. DS e-Archivo RD 27 jul. 2024