Au/ZnSe based surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy as a universal platform for bioanalysis

A versatile and sensitive platform for label-free bioanalysis has been proposed on the basis of attenuated total reflection-surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (ATR-SEIRAS) using Au/ZnSe as the enhancement substrate that allows a wide spectral range down to 700 cm–1. Au nanoparticles are stably deposited on the surface of a ZnSe prism due to the formation of Au–Se bonds via electroless deposition, and the enhancement factor of the resultant Au/ZnSe substrate is about 2 times larger than that of the commonly used Au/Si substrate. As a demonstration, the Au/ZnSe-based SEIRAS has been applied to obtain abundant structural information in the fingerprint region and quantitative analysis of various biomolecular interactions such as DNA hybridization and immunoreaction without any labeling process.