Polycarbonate microchannel network with carpet of gold nanowires as SERS-active device.

A polycarbonate (PC) microchannel network supporting gold nanowires was developed to be a SERS-active microchip. Observations of large increases in a Raman cross-section, allowed us to collect vibrational signatures which are not easily detectable by Raman techniques due to the high fluorescence level of bare PC. Compared to other SERS experiments, this study relies on the use of dielectric polymer/metal surfaces which are well defined at microscale and nanoscale levels. This device seems a promising tool for sensing the adsorption of biomolecules.