Sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance Research Articles

A highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor based on black phosphorus in the visible regime

A highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor based on black phosphorus in the visible regime

High-sensitivity fiber SPR strain sensor based on n-type structure.

At present, fiber strain sensors are mainly of the grating type and interference type, while there is relatively little research on fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) strain sensors. In this Letter, we propose a highly sensitive fiber SPR strain sensor based on an n-type structure. The strain changes the shape of the fiber n-type structure, causing the transmission mode of light in the fiber to change, thereby changing the SPR incidence angle and causing the SPR resonance valley wavelength to shift, achieving highly sensitive SPR strain sensing. The test results indicate that the strain sensing sensitivity of the proposed sensor reaches 21.33 pm/µε, and two n-type structures are connected in series to obtain a double n-type structure, further enhancing the strain sensing sensitivity to 33.44 pm/µε. This fiber strain sensor has advantages of high sensitivity, low temperature cross talk, strong structural stability, and low production cost, and is expected to become a new solution for wearable intelligent monitoring equipment and strain sensors in the aerospace field.

Numerical and analytical analysis of an ultrahigh sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor based on a black phosphorene/graphene heterostructure.

In this study, a surface plasmon resonance biosensor using angular interrogation based on a black phosphorene (BP) and graphene (G) heterostructure as two-dimensional materials are designed to enhance the sensitivity of conventional biosensors. The proposed structure is composed of eight layers: FK51A coupling prism, silver (Ag) thin film as the plasmonic metal, gold (Au) nanolayer in a protective role, BP nanosheets as an evanescent field enhancer, G monolayer as an immobilization process facilitator, DNA aptamer as biorecognition element, and phosphate buffered saline as a running buffer and sensing medium. To evaluate the performance of the proposed biosensor, analytical parameters such as minimum reflectivity (R m i n ), sensitivity, as well as the full width at half-maximum (FWHM), detection accuracy (DA), and quality factor (QF) are systematically assessed by the use of the transfer matrix method analytically and the finite-difference time-domain method numerically, to validate each other. It is observed that the structure has been optimized with 1.49 (RIU) for the coupling prism and the heterostructure T i O 2/A g/A u/B P/G thicknesses of 65/35/1/3.18/0.34nm, respectively. It was revealed that the proposed biosensor offered the sensitivity of 356 (°/RIU), QF of 42.4 (R I U -1), R m i n of 0.07 (a.u), FWHM of 8.3 (degree), and DA of 0.22 (unitless) and outperformed those of other results published up to now from the sensitivity point of view.

A high-performance long-range surface plasmon resonance sensor based on the co-modification of carbon nanotubes and gold nanorods

In order to solve the problem that the sensitivity of the optical fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is limited and the full width at half maxima (FWHM) is greatly increased after modification of two-dimensional materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), this paper proposes a Long-Range Surface Plasmon Resonance (LRSPR) Sensors co-modified by CNTs and gold nanorods. Gold nanorods were used to further enhance the sensitivity, and a simple and convenient method was used to excite the LRSPR by using low refractive index UV glue as a dielectric matching layer (DML). Compared with SPR sensor, the FWHM is reduced. The LRSPR sensor produced in this paper has a sensitivity of 5056.35 nm/RIU and a figure of merit (FOM) of 23.52 RIU−1, which are 150.64% and 24.38% higher than conventional SPR sensors, providing a method to achieve high sensitivity and FOM of the sensor. At the same time, the large specific surface area of CNTs and gold nanorods can also improve the biocompatibility of the sensor surface, which makes it have the potential of biosensing. In this paper, the use of UV glue as a DML to excite LRSPR is proposed for the first time.

An asymmetric slotted structured twin core photonic crystal fiber based highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance refractive index biosensor

A butterfly-shaped core photonic crystal fibers with less asymmetric rectangular and circular air holes are proposed, and their properties are numerically analyzed. The sensor construction is reduced to only seven air holes and uses surface plasmons stimulated inside gold (Au) strips for simplicity in manufacture and high sensitivity. Gold is employed as an effective plasmonic metal throughout this design to create resonant effects and is located away from the proposed structure to make production easier. Maximum amplitude sensitivity for the proposed sensor is 228.89 RIU−1, maximum wavelength sensitivity is 88,000 nm/RIU, and maximum wavelength resolution is 1.14 × 10−6RIU−1 for y-polarized mode where the figure of merit is 65.78 RIU−1 with a linearity of 0.9905. The proposed sensor can detect the RI of unspecified analytes between 1.27 and 1.40, allowing for the analysis of many different types of analytes, such as viruses, cancer cells, sugars, proteins, DNA/RNA and many more.

Highly sensitive fiber SPR sensor based on InSe nanosheets

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) optical fiber sensors exhibit advantages such as small size, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and corrosion resistance, and are currently widely applied in the field of biodetection. However, their sensitivity and reusability are still limited in detecting biomolecules, trace concentrations, and weak signals. This paper proposes an approach by utilizing indium selenide (InSe) nanoflakes to enhance the surface electric field strength of the metal layer. InSe is a two-dimensional material that exhibits higher charge carrier mobility and refractive index compared to traditional two-dimensional materials, thereby promoting electron transfer and inducing a larger SPR effect. By testing the sensors composed of InSe nanosheets with different thicknesses, it is found that the sensitivity of InSe nanosheets with a thickness of 40 nm is up to 4655.76 nm/RIU, which is much higher than the sensitivity of traditional Au film sensors and 52 % higher than that of MoS2-Au film SPR sensors with the same structure. Moreover, the sensor has a higher FOM value of 33.25 RIU−1 and shows excellent characteristics in repeatability and stability experiments. In this paper, a new method is proposed to enhance the sensitivity of SPR sensors and realize the monitoring of lower biomolecule concentration and weak signal. In addition, the great potential of indium selenide nanosheets in optical applications is emphasized.

Computational Modeling for Intelligent Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Design and Experimental Schemes for Real‐Time Plasmonic Biosensing: A Review

AbstractThe spectacular physical phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is the essence of present‐day plasmonic sensors. Meanwhile, the unique properties of the interaction between light and matter have been carved out into the development of modern‐day diagnostic biosensors. Plasmons, in simple terms, are oscillating free electrons in metallic nano‐structures triggered by an incoming electromagnetic (EM) wave. With the advantages of real‐time and label‐free bio‐sensing, plasmonic sensors are being utilized in multiple diverse areas of food technology, the bio‐medical diagnostic sector, and even the chemical industry. Although this review will be brief, readers can gain a comprehensive picture of the essential elements by taking a broader look into the exploration of SPR sensor design via simulated studies and representative experimental plasmonic schemes developed for bio‐sensing. In short, the various SPR sensing schemes that researchers have explored to realize enhanced SPR sensitivity are reviewed and summarized. Different experimental plasmonic sensors are also examined in which new SPR excitation schemes have been adopted. These "unconventional" designs, specifically those involving hybrid localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)‐SPR excitation, may inspire those in the plasmonic field.

Highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance temperature sensor based on a hollow core fiber multilayer structure.

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) temperature sensor based on a hollow core fiber (HCF) is designed in this paper. The sensor is composed of a multi-mode fiber (MMF)-HCF-MMF structure, and the self-made HCF is deposited successively with a thin layer of Au film (50 nm in thickness), gold nanoparticles (10 nm in diameter) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). A series of theoretical and experimental investiagtions are conducted, and the results are as follows: the proposed sensing structure only with Au film can effectively excite the SPR effect, with a sensitivity of (2200 ± 100) nm / RIU in the refractive index (RI) range of 1.3334-1.3811; after adding AuNPS, the sensitivity of the sensor is effectively improved, the sensitivity can be increased to (3100 ± 100) nm / RIU, and after the PDMS coating, temperature sensing can be realized due to its unique temperature-sensitive characteristics, a linear sensitivity of (-2.1 ± 0.1) nm / °C is realized in the temperature range of 25 °C to 100 °C. The sensor has the advantages of simple structure, wide application, large measurement range, high sensitivity, good stability and repeatability. Meanwhile, the internal air hole of HCF leaves a preparation channel for dual-parameter measurement. It has broad application prospect in medical treatment, environmental monitoring and manufacturing industry.

Fabricate a highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance optical fiber sensor based on a D-shape fiber coated with gold (Au) nano-layer

In this study, a D-shape fiber coated with a gold (Au) nano-layer is proposed as the basis for a highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR) optical fiber sensor that is used to detect the refractive index RI of the glucose solution, with the possibility of using this sensor as a biosensor. By variety side-polishing multimode fiber with different sensing lengths (1 cm, 1.5 cm, and 2 cm) and coating it with a thin layer of 50 nm gold film, the SPR D-shape fiber sensor was developed. The impacts of the sensing area and various residual fiber thicknesses are explored in order to acquire the optimal values of the SPR D-shape fiber sensor. Observations revealed that various concentrations of glucose, ranging from 1% to 9%, were tested on an SPR D-shape fiber sensor, with sensitivity growing to 3.101 au. RIU−1 and linearity reaching 98%. The sensor responded quickly to the refractive index from 1.334 to 1.346 RIU. The future of glucose sensors looks bright with gold-coated D-shaped fiber sensors, they may also work well with other factors like temperature or strain due to their excellent sensitivity, stability, and repeatability.

Detection of blood cancer using highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor based on MXene 2D nanomaterial

The most common disease on the earth, cancer, has raised concerns about the health of humans. Early discovery is a crucial argument to increase treatment success. A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor having prism, silver, MXene and analyte is theoretically proposed and numerically simulated in this work for rapid and accurate detection of blood cancer cells. Many different prisms are examined. The structure with the lowest refractive index prism has shown the highest sensitivity, hence it is taken into consideration for additional studies. Since an MXene layer has a larger surface area, it enhances surface-biomolecule adsorption. The number of MXene sheets and silver layer thickness are optimized to improve the sensor sensitivity. The SPR sensor can attain a sensitivity of 232.25 deg/RIU for 50 nm silver with a bi-layer of MXene. We believe that the proposed sensor has a very simple structure to facilitate the fabrication and it will be encouraging to be used in biosensing.

Tunable Au@SiO2/Au Film Metasurface as Surface Plasmon Resonance Enhancer for Direct and Ultrasensitive Detection of Exosomes.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy with non-labelling, sensitive, and real-time properties is critical for clinical diagnosis applications. However, conventional SPR sensors face the challenge of lower sensitivity and selectivity for trace exosomes assay in complex serum. We proposed a core-shell Au@SiO2-Au film (Au@SiO2-Au film) metasurface to enhance SPR signal based on systematic study on the relationship between gap modes and SPR enhancement. The self-assembled multifunctional peptide was designed as recognition layer with antifouling properties for ultrasensitive and selective detection of PD-L1+ exosomes in serum. The tuning electromagnetic (EM) field model by manipulating the gap was established to guide the preparation of Au@SiO2-Au film metasurface. The in-plane and out-of-plane coupling of Au@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) could greatly enlarge and enhance three-dimensional EM field to meet the size of exosomes located in the evanescent field. At the structural level, we achieved high sensitivity (0.16 particles/mL) and a broad response range (10-5 × 103 particles/mL) through optimizing the thickness of SiO2 and surface coverage of Au@SiO2. Furthermore, clinical sample assay achieved the optimal diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.97) for differentiating cancer patients from healthy controls. This work provides an opportunity for the construction of a tunable gap mode as SPR enhancer in a total internal reflection architecture. The systematic study on the relationship between gap modes and SPR sensitivity provides a broad scope for promoting direct, efficient, highly selective, and sensitive detection of SPR sensors for clinical application.

High Sensitivity Surface Plasmon Resonance Magnetic Field Sensor Based on Au/Gold Nanoparticles/Magnetic Fluid in the Hollow Core Fiber

A type of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) magnetic field sensor based on Au/gold nanoparticles/magnetic fluid (MF)-processed hollow core fiber is proposed in this work, which fully utilizes SPR’s high sensitivity to RI and the magnetron refractive index characteristic of MF. The metal material Au excites SPR and gold nanoparticles excite the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The coupling of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) with localized surface plasmon (LSP) increases the local electric field strength, thus improving the sensor’s sensitivity. Both the theoretical analysis on the sensing mechanism and the experimental findings demonstrate that this novel SPR magnetic field sensor has a wide measurement range and high sensitivity. In the range of magnetic field strength from 0 to 603 Gs, the sensitivity can reach up to 156 pm/Gs, and the linearity is good (the coefficient of determination is 0.996). Compared with other optical fiber magnetic field sensors, the sensor proposed in this paper has the benefits of easy fabrication, excellent sensitivity, simple structure, strong anti-interference ability, and wide measurement range, exhibiting significant application potentials in the fields of military drills, aerospace, etc.

Highly sensitive surface plasmon resonance sensor with surface modified MoSe2/ZnO composite film for non-enzymatic glucose detection

The rapid and accurate assessment of glucose concentration has been demonstrated to play a significant role in human health, such as the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes, pharmaceutical research and quality monitoring in the food industry, necessitating further development of the performance for glucose sensor especially at low concentrations. However, glucose oxidase-based sensors suffer from crucial restriction in bioactivity because of their poor environmental tolerance. Recently, catalytic nanomaterials with enzyme-mimicking activity, known as nanozymes, have gained considerable interest to overcome the drawback. In this scenario, we report an inspiring surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for non-enzymatic glucose detection employing ZnO nanoparticles and MoSe2 nanosheets composite (MoSe2/ZnO) as sensing film, featuring desirable advantages of high sensitivity and selectivity, lab-free and low cost. The ZnO was used to specifically recognize and bind glucose, and further signal amplification was realized by incorporating of MoSe2 owing to its larger specific surface area and favorable bio-compatibility, as well as high electron mobility. These unique features of MoSe2/ZnO composite film result in an obvious improvement of sensitivity for glucose detection. Experimental results show that the measurement sensitivity of the proposed sensor could reach 72.17 nm/(mg/mL) and a detection limit of 4.16 μg/mL by appropriately optimizing the componential constitutions of MoSe2/ZnO composite. In addition, the favorable selectivity, repeatability and stability are demonstrated as well. This facile and cost-effective work provides a novel strategy for constructing high-performance SPR sensor for glucose detection and a prospective application in biomedicine and human health monitoring.

Highly sensitive silver-based localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensor for microRNA-21 detection: Discrete dipole approximation together with molecular polarizability method

In this research, a highly sensitive gastric cancer biosensor based on the (LSPR) properties of silver nanoparticles has been produced to identify the microRNA-21. This biosensor has been analyzed by UV–Visible spectrophotometer (UV) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The obtained results show that our optimized synthesis process leads to the creation of approximately zig-zag chain structures consisting of 4 or 5 nanoparticles which can sense the cancer agent by a maximum shift in the plasmonic peak position. In addition, the mentioned results were confirmed by a comprehensive simulation of the biosensors using discrete dipole approximation (DDA) modified by the molecular polarizability method. The simulation process has been made by considering the effects of the actual molecular structures for both the receptor and target microRNAs on the surface of nanoparticles. The mentioned approach led to approximately accurate results that were matched with experimental achievements. This comparison indicates that the presented method is a suitable way for deep analysis of (LSPR)-based cancer biosensors.

Highly sensitive SPR curvature sensor based on graded-index fiber.

At present, fiber curvature sensors based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) are mostly of the multimode fiber core type or cladding type. These types have many SPR modes, resulting that the sensitivity cannot be adjusted and is difficult to improve. In this Letter, a highly sensitive SPR curvature sensor based on graded-index fiber is proposed. The light-injecting fiber is eccentrically connected with the graded-index fiber to inject single-mode light. Due to the self-focusing effect, the light beam propagates in the graded-index multimode fiber with a cosine trajectory, and the cosine beam contacts the flat grooved sensing region fabricated on the graded-index fiber to generate SPR. Due to the single transmission mode of the proposed fiber SPR sensor, the curvature sensing sensitivity is greatly improved. By changing the light injection position of the graded-index multimode fiber, the sensitivity can be adjusted. The proposed curvature sensing probe has a high sensitivity and can identify the bending direction. When bending in the X direction, the sensitivity reaches 5.62 nm/m-1, and when bending in the - X direction, the sensitivity reaches 4.75 nm/m-1, which provides a new scheme for highly sensitive and directionally identifiable curvature measurement.

Localized surface plasmon resonance biosensor chip surface modification and signal amplifications toward rapid and sensitive detection of COVID-19 infections

We developed a multi-pronged approach to enhance the detection sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensor chips to detect SARS-CoV-2. To this end, poly(amidoamine) dendrimers were immobilized onto the surface of LSPR sensor chips to serve as templates to further conjugate aptamers specific for SARS-CoV-2. The immobilized dendrimers were shown to reduce surface nonspecific adsorptions and increase capturing ligand density on the sensor chips, thereby improving detection sensitivity. To characterize the detection sensitivity of the surface-modified sensor chips, SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain was detected using LSPR sensor chips with different surface modifications. The results showed that the dendrimer-aptamer modified LSPR sensor chip exhibited a limit of detection (LOD) of 21.9 pM, a sensitivity that was 9 times and 152 times more sensitive than the traditional aptamer- or antibody-based LSPR sensor chips, respectively. In addition, detection sensitivity was further improved by combining rolling circle amplification product and gold nanoparticles to further amplify the detection signals by increasing both the target mass and plasmonic coupling effects. Using pseudo SARS-CoV-2 viral particles as detection targets, we demonstrated that this combined signal intensification approach further enhanced the detection sensitivity by 10 folds with a remarkable LOD of 148 vp/mL, making it one of the most sensitive SARS-CoV-2 detection assays reported to date. These results highlight the potential of a novel LSPR-based detection platform for sensitive and rapid detection of COVID-19 infections, as well as other viral infections and point-of-care applications.

A Fully Integrated Miniaturized Optical Biosensor for Fast and Multiplexing Plasmonic Detection of High- and Low-Molecular-Weight Analytes.

Optical biosensors based on plasmonic sensing schemes combine high sensitivity and selectivity with label-free detection. However, the use of bulky optical components is still hampering the possibility of obtaining miniaturized systems required for analysis in real settings. Here, a fully miniaturized optical biosensor prototype based on plasmonic detection is demonstrated, which enables fast and multiplex sensing of analytes with high- and low molecular weight (80 000 and 582 Da) as quality and safety parameters for milk: a protein (lactoferrin) and an antibiotic (streptomycin). The optical sensor is based on the smart integration of: i) miniaturized organic optoelectronic devices used as light-emitting and light-sensing elements and ii) a functionalized nanostructured plasmonic grating for highly sensitive and specific localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection. The sensor provides quantitative and linear response reaching a limit of detection of 10-4 refractive index units once it is calibrated by standard solutions. Analyte-specific and rapid (15 min long) immunoassay-based detection is demonstrated for both targets. By using a custom algorithm based on principal-component analysis, a linear dose-response curve is constructed which correlates with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 3.7µg mL-1 for lactoferrin, thus assessing that the miniaturized optical biosensor is well-aligned with the chosen reference benchtop SPR method.

Investigation of Highly Sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Employing Black Phosphorous and Graphene Hybrid Structure

Investigation of Highly Sensitive Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Employing Black Phosphorous and Graphene Hybrid Structure

Highly sensitive V-shaped SPR PCF biosensor for cancer detection

In this paper, a novel design of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is introduced and analyzed for cancer cell detection. The full vectorial finite element method (FVFEM) is used throughout the numerical analysis of the suggested biosensor. The reported PCF has a V-shaped surface that is coated with ZrN as a plasmonic material. A coupling occurs between the core guided mode and surface plasmon mode SPM which depends on the studied analyte. Such a coupling is improved by using the suggested V-shape geometry which increases the sensor sensitivity.The geometrical parameters are optimized to achieve high sensor sensitivity. The proposed biosensor has high optical sensitivity of 6214.28, 3800, and 5008.33 nm/RIU, for quasi-transverse magnetic (TM), and 6000 nm/RIU, 4400 nm/RIU, and 5333.3 nm/RIU, for quasi-transverse magnetic (TE), for breast, basal, and cervical cancer cells, respectively. The reported optical sensor can pave the way for efficient and simple technique for cancer detection with low cost and high sensitivity instead of surgical and chemical techniques.

Sensitivity Improvement of an Optical Fiber Sensor Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance with Pure Higher-Order Modes

In this paper, we propose an approach to improve the sensitivity of an optical fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a pure higher-order mode excited by a designed mode selective coupler (MSC). We calculate the proportion of the power of the higher-order mode in the cladding. Compared to the LP01 mode, the power proportion of the LP11 mode (LP21 mode) in the cladding theoretically improves by 100% (150%). To generate a relatively pure LP11 mode or LP21 mode, a mode selective coupler (MSC, 430–580 nm) is designed. The coupling efficiency of the LP01–LP11 mode coupler is over 80%, and that of the LP01–LP21 mode coupler is over 50%. The simulation results show that the sensitivity of the LP11 mode and the LP21 mode increases by approximately 330% and 360%, respectively, using the intensity modulation (n = 1.33–1.38, 430–580 nm); the resolution of the refractive indices of our sensor, using the LP11 mode (LP21 mode), is 2.6×10−4 RIU (2.4×10−4 RIU). The higher sensitivity and resolution of our presented fiber SPR sensor containing a visible MSC make it a promising candidate for the measurement of refractive indices.