Nanoengineered thin films of copper for the optical monitoring of urine – a comparative study of the helical and columnar nanostructures

Abstract

The use of nanoengineered metallic complex mediums in the monitoring of urine is investigated in this study. As to the mediums used, nanoscaled thin films comprised of (i) copper nanohelix structures of two different numbers of helical turns and (ii) columnar thin films of copper nanorods of two different slanting angles grown over planar glass surface – a dielectric medium – are taken into account. Turbadar–Kretschmann–Raether (TKR) configuration is used to couple light with the metallic nanoengineered thin films, and the absorption spectra are monitored corresponding to two different optical wavelengths. The void regions in nanoengineered metallic films are filled up with urine as the analyte, which causes to alter the constitutive properties, resulting thereby shifts in the peaks in absorption spectra. Prominent shifts in absorption peaks corresponding to nanoengineered mediums infiltrated with urine essentially confirm prudent optical sensing characteristics of the devices under consideration.