Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a promising optical method for analyzing molecular samples of various nature. Most SERS studies are of an applied nature, indicating a serious potential for their application in analytical practice. Dendritelike nanostructures have great potential for SERS, but the lack of a method for their predictable production significantly limits their implementation. In this paper, a method for controllably obtaining spatially separated, self-organized, and highly-branched silver dendrites via template synthesis in pores of SiO₂/Si is proposed. The dendritic branches have nanoscale roughness, creating many plasmon-active “hotspots” required for SERS. The first held 3D modeling of the external electromagnetic wave interaction with such a dendrite, as well as experimental data, confirms this theory. Using the example of a reference biological analyte, which is usually used as a label for other biological molecules, the dendrites’ SERS-sensitivity up to 10⁻¹⁵M was demonstrated with an enhancement factor of 10⁸. The comparison of simulation results with SERS experiments allows distinguishing the presence of electromagnetic and chemical contributions, which have a different effect at various analyte concentrations.

The present study was aimed at revealing the influence of the mechanical stress induced by water molecule adsorption on the composition of crystalline phases in the ZrO₂ + 3 mol% Y₂O₃-nanoparticles. Three basic methods were used to determine the phase transition: neutron diffraction, Raman microspectroscopic scanning, and X-ray diffraction. The fact of reversible phase-structural β → α transformation and the simultaneous presence of two polymorphic structural modifications (β is the phase of the tetragonal syngony and α of monoclinic syngony in nanosized particles (9 nm)) under normal physical conditions was established by these methods. An assumption was made regarding the connection of the physical mechanism of transformation of the extremely nonequilibrium surface of nanoparticles with electronic exchange of the material of the near-surface layer of nanoparticles with the adsorption layer through donor–acceptor interaction. The principal possibility of creating direct-acting hydroelectric converters based on nanoscale YSZ (Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia) systems due to the reversible character of the considered effect was shown.

The development of modern bio-nanoelectronic technologies requires new hybrid organo-inorganic systems that have a specific functional purpose and allow work in the tissues of living organisms. The practical realization and scientific study of a hybrid two-component system in the form of DNA molecule fragments and nanoparticles of biocompatible ceramics was the goal of this work. The interaction of a DNA molecule with nanoparticles of a solid solution of the composition ZrO2–3mol% Y2O3 (YSZ) was studied using Raman scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Samples of YSZ oxide and hydroxide were investigated in triplicate at room temperature using LabRAM HR Evolution Horiba spectrometer and JEM 200A instrument. The effect of the force field of the surface of YSZ nanoparticles on the optical properties of the DNA molecule in the TRIS buffer solution was shown. The effects of increasing the intensity of spectral lines in the long-wavelength region 250 – 660 cm-1 (254 cm -1, 322 cm -1, 470 cm -1, 663 cm -1). suppressing the intensity of spectral lines in the shortwave region 600 – 3300 cm -1 (604 cm -1, 917 cm -1, 951 cm -1, 1256 cm -1, 1302 cm -1, 2767 cm -1, 3180 cm -1, 3241 cm -1, 3285 cm -1), as well as shifting lines 519 cm -1, 917 cm -1, 1048 cm -1, 1547 cm -1 and 1639 on 40-60 cm-1 in the shortwave region are established. From the standpoint of the theory of wave processes, a qualitative description of the detected Up-conversion effect was done. An assumption about the potential applicability of the YSZ nanoparticle surface – DNA nucleotide interfaces as a heterodyne frequency converter in molecular- and bio-electronic devices was made.