Almohammed, SawsanSawsanAlmohammedRodriguez, Brian J.Brian J.RodriguezRice, James H.James H.Rice2019-05-212019-05-212019 the A2019-05-17Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research2214-1804http://hdl.handle.net/10197/10587Templates formed from aligned diphenylalanine nanotubes with plasmon-active metal nanoparticles are a promising nanocomposite for large-scale, rapid, stable, and cost-effective surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. The high sensitivity of such templates arises from an arrangement of densely packed plasmon-active silver nanoparticles that enhance the localized electromagnetic field and allow the detection of the nucleobases adenine, cytosine, thymine, uracil, and guanine at concentrations in the range 10−5 to 10−9 M. Blinking of the SERS signal is observed, indicating sensitivity down to the single or few molecule limit. Such blinking could result from charge transfer process. These results demonstrate the potential for using aligned diphenylalanine nanotube-metal nanoparticle templates for practical monitoring of biomolecules and are promising initial steps toward the use of peptide nanotube-based in diagnostic sensing applications.enThis is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Sensing and Bio-Sensing Research (24 (2019)) DOI: 10.1016/j.sbsr.2019.100287Diphenylalanine nanotubesNucleobasesSurface-enhanced Raman spectroscopyNanocompositesSelf-assemblyOrganic templateJournal Article2410.1016/j.sbsr.2019.1002872019-05-17IR10161644175https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/