Current achievements of nanoparticle applications in developing optical sensing and imaging techniques.

Jong-ryul Choi,Hyerin Song,Kyujung Kim,Dong-Myeong Shin,Donghoon Lee

doi:10.1186/s40580-016-0090-x

Abstract

Metallic nanostructures have recently been demonstrated to improve the performance of optical sensing and imaging techniques due to their remarkable localization capability of electromagnetic fields. Particularly, the zero-dimensional nanostructure, commonly called a nanoparticle, is a promising component for optical measurement systems due to its attractive features, e.g., ease of fabrication, capability of surface modification and relatively high biocompatibility. This review summarizes the work to date on metallic nanoparticles for optical sensing and imaging applications, starting with the theoretical backgrounds of plasmonic effects in nanoparticles and moving through the applications in Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence biosensors. Various efforts for enhancing the sensitivity, selectivity and biocompatibility are summarized, and the future outlooks for this field are discussed. Convergent studies in optical sensing and imaging have been emerging field for the development of medical applications, including clinical diagnosis and therapeutic applications.

Highlights

Since the first conceptual discussion by Richard Feynman in 1959 and the first use by Norio Taniguchi in 1974 [1], nanotechnology has been consistently developed and applied in various scientific and industrial areas [2,3,4]
We introduce varied approaches to improve the performance of optical measurement techniques using metallic nanoparticles in sensing and imaging
Since the original theoretical investigations and experimental confirmations of electromagnetic fields travelling on a metal-dielectric interface, which were named surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) [41], the maximum excitation of the SPPs under specific conditions, which was defined as surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and its applications such as photonic circuits and nano-photonic devices have been established [42,43,44,45]

Summary

Introduction

Since the first conceptual discussion by Richard Feynman in 1959 and the first use by Norio Taniguchi in 1974 [1], nanotechnology has been consistently developed and applied in various scientific and industrial areas [2,3,4]. Nanoparticles have been widely applied in numerous optical measurement systems because many synthetic methods have been developed and the surface of the nanoparticles can be modified using chemical approaches [37, 38]. Plasmonics-based applications of nanoparticles have many advantages to enhance the optical measurement systems, they still need more investigations of their stability, compatibility, and uniformity. We introduce varied approaches to improve the performance of optical measurement techniques using metallic nanoparticles in sensing and imaging. We first discuss the plasmonic effects on the surface of the nanoparticles through a theoretical approach based on the Maxwell equation, and we consider various applications for sensitivity enhancements in biosensing and imaging methods that have been investigated in the last decades. We suggest future research directions based on multi-functional nanoparticles in the development of high-performance optical measurement systems

Localized surface plasmon resonance biosensors based on nanoparticles

Nanoparticle‐enhanced Raman spectroscopic sensing and imaging techniques

Nanoparticle‐based fluorescence enhancements and their applications

Recent advances in optical sensing and imaging using novel nanoparticles

Specialized single‐material nanoparticles for higher photonic enhancements

Findings

Specialized multi‐materials nanoparticles for higher photonic enhancements