The present work gives an overview of the developments in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with metal-coated porous silicon used as an active substrate. We focused this review on the research referenced to SERS-active materials based on porous silicon, beginning from the patent application in 2002 and enclosing the studies of this year. Porous silicon and metal deposition technologies are discussed. Since the earliest studies, a number of fundamentally different plasmonic nanostructures including metallic dendrites, quasi-ordered arrays of metallic nanoparticles (NPs), and metallic nanovoids have been grown on porous silicon, defined by the morphology of this host material. SERS-active substrates based on porous silicon have been found to combine a high and well-reproducible signal level, storage stability, cost-effective technology and handy use. They make it possible to identify and study many compounds including biomolecules with a detection limit varying from milli- to femtomolar concentrations. The progress reviewed here demonstrates the great prospects for the extensive use of the metal-coated porous silicon for bioanalysis by SERS-spectroscopy.

We registered surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of the human lactoferrin molecules adsorbed on a silvered porous silicon (por-Si) from 10⁻⁶–10⁻¹⁸ M solutions. It was found that the por-Si template causes a negative surface potential of silver particles and their chemical resistivity to oxidation. These properties provided to attract positively charged lactoferrin molecules and prevent their interaction with metallic particles upon 473 nm laser excitation. The SERS spectra of lactoferrin adsorbed from 10⁻⁶ M solution were rather weak but a decrease of the concentration to 10⁻¹⁰ M led to an enormous growth of the SERS signal. This effect took place as oligomers of lactoferrin were broken down to monomeric units while its concentration was reduced. Oligomers are too large for a uniform overlap with electromagnetic field from silver particles. They cannot provide an intensive SERS signal from the top part of the molecules in contrast to monomers that can be completely covered by the electromagnetic field. The SERS spectra of lactoferrin at the 10⁻¹⁴ and 10⁻¹⁶ M concentrations were less intensive and started to change due to increasing contribution from the laser burned molecules. To prevent overheating the analyte molecules on the silvered por-Si were protected with graphene, which allowed the detection of lactoferrin adsorbed from the 10⁻¹⁸ M solution.