Development of Convenient Ionic-Wind Generator for Noninvasive Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Measurement

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy suffers from inherently weak signals and persistent fluorescence interference when analyzing natural materials. To overcome these limitations, this study introduces a convenient ionic wind generator (IWG) for enhanced and fluorescence-suppressed Raman spectroscopy. The handheld system employs a tunable ionic wind source featuring a 50 nm-radius tungsten needle electrode and a 40-mesh stainless-steel mesh electrode separated by a fixed but adjustable distance. This configuration enables noncontact, substrate-free enhancement of Raman signals for both fluorescent and nonfluorescent samples. For nonfluorescent analytes (e.g., CTAB and Na₂CO₃), IWG increases the intensity of characteristic Raman peaks by 20%–40%. For fluorescent samples such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN), combining photobleaching (PB) with ionic wind (IW) reduces fluorescence interference by 55% and improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of key Raman peaks by 4–10 times compared to a PB-only configuration. Demonstrating compatibility with commercial Raman systems, IWG provides a noninvasive platform for enhanced material analysis, as validated using textiles, amber, and brick samples.