Abstract
Chemical and biological sensing are crucial tools in science and technology. Plasmonic nanoparticles offer a virtually limitless number of photons for sensing applications, which can be available for visual detection over long periods. Moreover, cellulosic materials, such as paper, represent a versatile building block for implementation of simple, yet valuable, microfluidic analytical devices. This mini review outlines the basic theory of nanoplasmonics and the usability of paper as a nanoplasmonic substrate exploiting its features as a (bio)sensing platform based on different mechanisms depending on localized surface plasmon resonance response. Progress, current trends, challenges and opportunities are also underscored. It is intended for general researchers and technologists who are new to the topic as well as specialist/experts in the field.
Highlights
The quantitative description of plasmons in gold nanoparticles (Mie, 1908), has portrayed great advances in physics and chemistry, and in applications in different areas ranging from biology (Polavarapu et al, 2014), and medicine (Brigger et al, 2012) to energy (Baffou and Quidant, 2012)
Given the flow control provided by paper-based microfluidics and the highly specific interactions facilitated by the involved biorecognition probes, these reaction zones operate as concentration areas of biorecognition events labeled with plasmonic nanoparticles, resulting in a visually observable phenomenon reporting the absence/presence of the target molecule
Microfluidics on paper goes beyond confining liquids within hydrophobic domains
Summary
The quantitative description of plasmons in gold nanoparticles (Mie, 1908), has portrayed great advances in physics and chemistry, and in applications in different areas ranging from biology (Polavarapu et al, 2014), and medicine (Brigger et al, 2012) to energy (Baffou and Quidant, 2012). We offer an overview of the nanoplasmonic sensing principles exploited in these devices including concentration of plasmonic nanoparticles, inter-particle/size modulation, in-situ formation and surface enhanced Raman scattering. We emphasize how paper-based substrates and nanoplasmonics can be exploited in analytical tasks, which are advantageous in terms of simplicity, low-cost and easy fabrication.
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