Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Platforms Using Two-Dimensional Materials

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) exploits nanoscale substrates to amplify the inherently weak Raman signal of molecular vibrations, enabling ultrasensitive detection of chemical and biological species. Two-dimensional (2D) materials—atomically thin sheets such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs)—have emerged as attractive SERS platforms either in isolation or in hybrid form with plasmonic nanostructures. Their high surface-to-volume ratios, tuneable electronic structures and chemical functionalities facilitate strong photoinduced charge transfer and local electromagnetic field modulation. In pure 2D systems, chemical enhancement mechanisms dominate, relying on direct interaction between adsorbed molecules and the 2D lattice, while in mixed-dimensional heterostructures the synergy between electromagnetic “hot spots” and interfacial charge dynamics yields exceptionally large enhancement factors. Recent advances include the engineering of atomic defects to tailor density of states, the fabrication of ultra-clean quantum dots for enhanced edge-related charge transfer, and the design of mixed-dimensional architectures that harness ultrafast interlayer coupling. Such platforms are transforming fields as diverse as environmental monitoring, food safety, pathogen identification and fundamental studies of molecular dynamics at interfaces.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have advanced mixed-dimensional heterostructures by integrating one-dimensional metal oxide nanowires onto TMDC monolayers via controlled plasma oxidation, achieving sub-zeptomolar detection limits and enhancement factors exceeding 10¹¹ through ultrafast interfacial charge transfer on the picosecond timescale. Complementary work on single-layer and bilayer graphene, including partially hydrogenated samples, has revealed how local doping and strain modulate Raman intensities of probe molecules without requiring external plasmonic metals. This approach has provided a methodology to disentangle chemical enhancement contributions by analysing relative peak intensities, offering a plasmon-free route to quantitative SERS and deeper insight into molecule–substrate interactions.

Research from all publishers

A novel V-shaped nanocavity architecture combining organic dopant/TMDC heterostructures with aluminium oxide nanotemplates has delivered ultrahigh sensitivity down to 10⁻¹⁶ M through a synergistic electromagnetic and chemical enhancement mechanism, demonstrating fast and stable detection of water contaminants. Defect engineering in monolayer MoS₂ has introduced metallic states that amplify photoinduced charge transfer, suppress fluorescence background and lower detection limits to below 10⁻⁸ M across a range of dye molecules. In biosensing applications, few-layer MoTe₂ films grown by chemical vapour deposition have enabled nanomolar detection of lipophilic disease markers, with homogeneous signal reproducibility, sensor regeneration and compatibility with biological media, illustrating the potential of purely chemical-mechanism-driven SERS platforms for complex-matrix diagnostics.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Platforms Using Two-Dimensional Materials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy platforms using two-dimensional materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS): A technique that amplifies Raman scattering signals via nanostructured substrates.

Electromagnetic enhancement (EM): Signal amplification arising from localised surface plasmon resonances in metallic nanostructures.

Chemical enhancement (CM): Signal amplification due to charge transfer between the substrate and adsorbed molecule.

Enhancement factor (EF): The ratio of Raman signal intensity with and without the enhancing substrate.

Heterostructure: A composite material formed by stacking or interfacing two or more distinct nanoscale components.

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC): A class of layered 2D materials with the formula MX₂, where M is a transition metal and X a chalcogen.

References

1. Ultrafast charge transfer in mixed-dimensional WO3-x nanowire/WSe2 heterostructures for attomolar-level molecular sensing. Nature Communications (2023).
2. V‐Shaped Heterostructure Nanocavities Array with CM and EM Coupled Enhancement for Ultra‐Sensitive SERS Substrate. Advanced Science (2024).
3. Raman enhancement on ultra-clean graphene quantum dots produced by quasi-equilibrium plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Nature Communications (2018).
4. Graphene-enhanced Raman scattering on single layer and bilayers of pristine and hydrogenated graphene. Scientific Reports (2020).
5. Defect-Rich Monolayer MoS2 as a Universally Enhanced Substrate for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering. Nanomaterials (2022).
6. Application of a 2D Molybdenum Telluride in SERS Detection of Biorelevant Molecules. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2020).