Polymer coated sers nanotag

Abstract

An encapsulated surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tag. The tag includes a metal core and an encapsulant, typically a glass encapsulant. The encapsulant is further derivatized with a polymer.

1 . A coated nanotag comprising:
 a SERS active nanotag; and   a polymer coating around at least a portion of the SERS active nanotag.   
     
     
         2 . A method of tagging a tissue, comprising associating said tissue with a polymer coated SERS active nanotag. 
     
     
         3 . A method of manufacturing a coated nanotag comprising:
 a) associating a spectroscopy-active analyte with a surface-enhanced spectroscopy (SES)-active metal nanoparticle;   b) coating said analyte-associated metal nanoparticle with an encapsulant;   wherein said spectroscopy-active analyte has a measurable SERS spectrum; and   c) coating said encapsulated particle with a polymer.   
     
     
         4 . A method of assaying tissue comprising:
 associating said tissue with a polymer coated SERS active nanotag.; and obtaining the Raman spectrum of the polymer coated nanotag.