Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)-Based Nanosensors for the Detection of Pathogenic Bacteria

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a well-established phenomenon with applications in different fields of chemical, physical, and biological sciences. Surface plasmons are excited on a metal dielectric interface due to the collective oscillation of the electron cloud in response to incident electric field, which generates an evanescent wave at the metal-dielectric interface, which is sensitive to the surrounding refractive index changes. The SPR technique has also been extended for the development of biosensors for different analytes, including the pathogenic bacteria. SPR biosensors offer the advantages of direct and label-free detection. They work on the mechanism of recording the refractive index changes when the biosensor surface binds with a target analyte. The present chapter comprises the information on the applications of SPR biosensors for pathogenic bacteria. Biosensors based on the use of enzymatic reactions, metallic and magnetic nanoparticles, and nanosheets have been discussed. The applications of localized SPR (LSPR) and long-range SPRs (LRSPs) to develop high-resolution SPR sensors have also been covered.