Abstract
A novel surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor system using a smartphone based on the metal nanoshell array sensing method is proposed and developed. The micro-flow injection method was used to prepare two-dimensional colloidal microsphere template, the metal nanoshell array was fabricated by combining the microsphere template and the magnetron sputtering technology. A smartphone and a diffraction grating are employed as interrogation system, in which a fiber with a 45° polished tip connect the flashlight and the camera on the smartphone. The diffraction grating spreads the transmission spectrum over the camera's pixels to allow for repeatable measurements of wavelength shifts of the sensor. The reflection intensity of sensor can be measured by smartphone and the surrounding refractive index is monitored by the shift of the reflection spectrum. The experimental results show that the sensitivity of the SPR refractive index sensor based on the metal nanoshell array is about 927 nm/RIU for a refractive index (RI) range from 1.352 to 1.363, and the quality factor of that is about 18.5. The results show that this technique can provide a low-cost, portable and intelligent diagnostic platform for the measurement of the SPR refractive index sensor.
Highlights
Optical refractive index sensor has the advantages of high accuracy, anti-electromagnetic interference, fast response and imageability, which is in conformity with the technical requirements of real-time and unmarked detection in biochemical sensor
The sensor probe is placed in ethanol solution, the reflection spectrum of the sensor under different ambient refractive index is obtained by using the smartphone measurement system
The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractive index sensor based on the metal nanoshell array sensing method was fabricated by the microsphere template and magnetron sputtering
Summary
Optical refractive index sensor has the advantages of high accuracy, anti-electromagnetic interference, fast response and imageability, which is in conformity with the technical requirements of real-time and unmarked detection in biochemical sensor. With the rapid development of smartphones, the characteristics of high integration, intelligence, and convenience, which have attracted the attention of many researchers, so many measurement and analysis methods developed for smartphones are booming in various fields. In view of the above advantages and phenomena and the continuous improvement of the intelligent demand for the integration of optical sensors, the research of optical sensor measurement based on smartphones has been paid more attention. Such the measurement of SPR sensor based on metal film is realized by using smartphone camera and LED [13], [14]. The optical sensor is closely combined with the smartphone, which expands the potential application field of the sensor [15]–[19], provides a simple, intelligent and low-cost platform for the measurement of refractive index sensor
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