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Template Directed Synthesis of Plasmonic Gold Nanotubes with Tunable IR Absorbance
Published on: April 1, 2013
High-performance biosensing using arrays of plasmonic nanotubes.
John McPhillips1, Antony Murphy, Magnus P Jonsson
1Centre for Nanostructured Media, IRCEP, Queen's University of Belfast, BT71NN, United Kingdom. j.mcphillips@qub.ac.uk
ACS Nano
|March 12, 2010
Summary
Aligned gold nanotube arrays act as sensitive refractive index sensors for biomolecular binding. Their performance improves with wall exposure, offering distinct sensing capabilities for inner and outer surfaces.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Biomolecular Sensing
- Plasmonics
Background:
- Plasmonic nanotructures offer unique optical properties for sensing applications.
- Refractive index sensing is crucial for label-free biomolecular detection.
- Gold nanotubes present a novel platform for enhanced plasmonic sensing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the sensing capabilities of aligned gold nanotube arrays for biomolecular binding.
- To develop a methodology for evaluating the sensing performance of both inner and outer nanotube walls.
- To compare the sensing characteristics of different nanotube wall regions.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of aligned gold nanotube arrays.
- Characterization of plasmonic resonances and sensing performance.
- Utilizing a methodology to probe inside and outside nanotube wall sensitivity.
- Performing finite element simulations to model sensor behavior.
Main Results:
- Gold nanotube arrays support plasmonic resonances for high-performance sensing.
- Sensing sensitivity increases with nanotube wall exposure.
- Distinct sensing characteristics were observed for the inside and outside walls.
- Free-standing nanotubes achieved bulk sensitivities of ~250 nm/RIU with SNR > 1000.
Conclusions:
- Aligned gold nanotube arrays are effective refractive index sensors for biomolecular interactions.
- The presented methodology allows for detailed analysis of nanotube sensing regions.
- Gold nanotubes demonstrate competitive performance compared to existing label-free sensors.
