Sensors 2015, 15, 10422-10451; doi:10.3390/s150510422 OPEN ACCESS sensors ISSN 1424-8220 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors Review Fabrication and Robotization of Ultrasensitive Plasmonic Nanosensors for Molecule Detection with Raman Scattering Xiaobin Xu 1, Kwanoh Kim 2, Chao Liu 1 and Donglei Fan 1,2,* 1 Materials Science and Engineering Program, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; E-Mails:
[email protected] (X.X.);
[email protected] (C.L.) 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel: +1-512-471-5874. Academic Editor: Shinya Maenosono Received: 4 January 2015 / Accepted: 14 April 2015 / Published: 4 May 2015 Abstracts: In this work, we introduce the history and mechanisms of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), discuss various techniques for fabrication of state-of-the-art SERS substrates, and review recent work on robotizing plasmonic nanoparticles, especially, the efforts we made on fabrication, characterization, and robotization of Raman nanosensors by design. Our nanosensors, consisting of tri-layer nanocapsule structures, are ultrasensitive, well reproducible, and can be robotized by either electric or magnetic tweezers. Three applications using such SERS nanosensors were demonstrated, including location predictable detection, single-cell bioanalysis, and tunable molecule release and monitoring. The integration of SERS and nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) devices is innovative in both device concept and fabrication, and could potentially inspire a new device scheme for various bio-relevant applications. Keywords: SERS; sensors; NEMS; nanomotors; drug delivery; manipulation Sensors 2015, 15 10423 1.