Jie Lin, Xiangyu Meng, Yujiao Xie, Yusi Peng, Xingce Fan, Kun Liang, Fugang Xu, Aiguo Shen, Libin Yang, Lei Chen, Wei Ji, Tingting Zheng, Teng Qiu, Shan Cong, Zhigang Zhao, Xiaotian Wang, Yong Yang, Aiguo Wu, Guangcheng Xi, Bing Zhao
This Perspective commemorates 50 years of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) by highlighting the paradigm shift toward rationally designed semiconductor substrates, enabling ultrasensitive and molecule-selective detection. Several enhancement strategies have been developed to effectively modulate the electronic band structure and charge transfer (CT) processes, such as energy level customization, amorphization, quasi-metallization, and morphology control, achieving high enhancement factors with good selectivity and stability. Moreover, semiconductor SERS substrates show broad prospects in the fields of bio-sensing and cancer diagnosis. Nevertheless, standardization gaps in substrate reproducibility and data comparability hinder its widespread adoption. Resolving these challenges through multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential to bridge the technology transfer gap and establish SERS as a core platform for next-generation inspection.