Enrichment strategies in surface-enhanced Raman scattering: theoretical insights and optical design for enhanced light-matter interaction

作者：Zhiyang Pei, Chang Ji, Mingrui Shao, Yang Wu, Xiaofei Zhao, Baoyuan Man, Zhen Li, Jing Yu, Chao Zhang · 发表于：Opto-Electronic Science · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.29026/oes.2025.250015 · 被引用次数：64 · 研究领域：Random lasers and scattering media、Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications、Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful molecular fingerprinting technique widely applied across physical chemistry, environmental monitoring, and public safety. While hotspot engineering has driven significant advances, a critical limitation persists: the reliable detection of analytes lacking affinity for plasmonic surfaces remains challenging. Despite extensive reviews on SERS substrates and hotspots (>300 in recent years), none systematically address analyte manipulation as a complementary paradigm for overcoming this universal detection barrier. This review uniquely synthesizes the rapidly evolving field of analyte enrichment strategies—categorized as chemical, physical, and macroscopic force field approaches—and demonstrates their integration with engineered hotspots as a multifaceted solution. We highlight how this synergy achieves unprecedented sensitivity enhancements (10 4 –10 15 fold), unattainable through hotspot engineering alone. Finally, we emphasize the current challenges in this research area and propose new research directions aimed at developing efficient SERS designs that are critical for real-world applications.