Harnessing quantum plexcitons for enhanced sensitivity and selectivity of creatinine sensor

Abstract

Despite their widespread usage, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors have several drawbacks, including limited sensitivity and the requirement for sophisticated functionalization chemistry to enhance their performance. In contrast, using quantum states for sensing may result in an enormous increase in sensor performance. These states, however, often need a rigorously controlled environment, which limits their adoption. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in employing quantum plexcitons to solve this conundrum, which has recently been proven to be resilient and robust even in ambient conditions. Here, we report the utilization of plexcitons induced through hybridization of surface plasmon and excitons in a SPR-Otto configuration for sensing creatinine molecules. Using an organic pentamer, BOBzBT2, the ultra-strong coupling regime with a Rabi splitting of 22 % of the uncoupled energy was observed and exploited to monitor the creatinine concentrations. This demonstration proposes a way to combine the benefits of an SPR-based design with the sensitivity offered by quantum plexcitons, which is beneficial for future practical quantum sensing.