The study of individual cell processes that occur both on their surface and inside is highly interesting for the development of new medical drugs, cytology and cell technologies. This work presents an original technique for fabricating the silver-coated pipette and its use for the cell analysis by combination with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and scanning ion-conducting microscopy (SICM). Unlike the majority of other designs, the pipette opening in our case remains uncovered, which is important for SICM. SERS-active Ag nanoparticles on the pipette surface are formed by vacuum–thermal evaporation followed by annealing. An array of nanoparticles had a diameter on the order of 36 nm and spacing of 12 nm. A two-particle model based on Laplace equations is used to calculate a theoretical enhancement factor (EF). The surface morphology of the samples is investigated by scanning electron microscopy while SICM is used to reveal the surface topography, to evaluate Young’s modulus of living cells and to control an injection of the SERS-active pipettes into them. A Raman microscope–spectrometer was used to collect characteristic SERS spectra of cells and cell components. Local Raman spectra were obtained from the cytoplasm and nucleus of the same HEK-293 cancer cell. The EF of the SERS-active pipette was 7 × 10⁵. As a result, we demonstrate utilizing the silver-coated pipette for both the SICM study and the molecular composition analysis of cytoplasm and the nucleus of living cells by SERS. The probe localization in cells is successfully achieved.

В данной работе представлено модифицирование ИК-излучателя на основе Ni-микронагревателей различной конфигурации слоем из смеси оксидов марганца. Показана методика получения смеси оксидов и формирование модифицирующего слоя на поверхности микронагревателя. В результате продемонстрировано увеличение равномерности разогрева микронагревателя и энергоэф- фективности в четыре раза. Результаты работы могут быть использованы для дальнейшего изготовления ИК-излучателей с повышенной эффективностью излучения.

В данной работе были синтезированы массивы нанотрубок анодного оксида титана, при различных температурах раствора электролита в процессе электрохимического окисле- ния титановой фольги. Представлены результаты исследования фазового состава и оптических свойств полученных образцов. Полученные результаты будут полезны для дальнейшего инжини- ринга фотоэлектронных свойств массивов нанотрубок с целью применения в функциональной электронике.

Wide band gap (WBG) oxide and metal nanocomposites can possess bifunctionality from combining tightly coupled nanoobjects with different physicochemical properties. Adjusting synthesis conditions tunes these properties through modulating the process–morphology–function relationship. However, the controllable synthesis of such nanocomposites and their related applications are still underexplored. Here, we present a novel process flow to synthesize crystalline ZnO nanosheaves dotted with silver nanoparticles. The uniqueness of our strategy lies in the use of a silver mask for vertical growth of ZnO nanosheaves and thermal evaporating/dewetting Ag film to form a photocatalytic/plasmonic heterostructure. Upon combining a huge specific surface area and nanocrystallinity of ZnO nanosheaves, we enabled its surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-activity free of plasmonic components, yet their Ag modification resulted in improving detection limit in relation to Ellman’s reagent. Ag/ZnO nanosheaves showed dramatic photocatalytic activity to clean SERS-active surface. The systematic approach to synthesize Ag/ZnO heterostructure holds great promise in practical applications associated with interest in both photocatalytic and plasmonic properties.