Classification of single-molecule surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectra of Rhodamine 6G from isolated Ag colloidal particles by principal component analysis

Surface enhanced resonance Raman (SERR) spectra of Rhodamine 6G are measured from single isolated Ag particles and analyzed by using a chemometrics technique, principal component analysis (PCA). The Ag particles are incubated with various amounts of R6G yielding the ratio of Ag particles to R6G molecules from 1:1 to 1:1000. Acquired SERR spectra are considered due to a single or very few R6G molecules. PCA is used to determine the number of chemically distinguishable species that contribute to the measured SERR spectra. A simple clustering tool, score bi-plot, is then inspected on grouping of the SERR spectra. The spectra are found to be largely similar except for the variability in the intensity and position of the bands that is believed to be correlated with the lifetime of the strong enhancement at specific places on an Ag surface. The spectra from four different Ag particles carrying more than 1000 R6G molecules are, however, unambiguously separated. Different aspects of the applied data analysis method and physicochemical perspective of the results are discussed.