A Prototype of Miniaturized SPR Sensing System based on Polymer Light-Emitting Diode

Abstract

In this study, we proposed a novel design of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. SPR has a major advantage of relatively high sensitivity due to its specific to metal-dielectric interfaces so that there are a large variety of applications especially in the field of biosensing. However, the current commercial SPR-based detection system has a drawback of considerable size especially in the prism-based SPR system. Our novel design links up the predominance of SPR and organic electroluminescent device (OELD). The light source of this sensor was made of an organic electroluminescent material, 2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4—phenylenevinylene (MEH-PPV) and the wavelength bandwidth is ranged from 580 nm to 640 nm. The techniques of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) was used to minimize the device and successfully to cut the sensor chip, including the light source and the sensing area, size down to 2.5 cm by 2.5 cm. For the light source, the ITO glass is patterned in advance and followed by the technique of spin coating and thermal evaporating to make the light emitting layer and cathode respectively. Therefore, a plane light source can be produced to replace of the traditional laser light source and the prism coupler. In consequence, we invite a prototype of a lab-on-a-chip sensor and miniaturized the detection system which provides a convenient and inexpensive way to apply on the biomolecule sensing and shows potential in the portable SPR-sensing application.Keywordssurface plasmon resonancepolymer light-emitting diodeMEH-PPVminiaturizedMicro-Electro-Mechanical Systems