Graphene-on-silver substrates for sensitive surface plasmon resonance imaging biosensors

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biosensing
• Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)

Background:

• Conventional gold-film-based SPR biosensors face limitations in sensitivity and substrate oxidation.
• Graphene's impermeability and silver's sharp SPR curve offer potential for improved biosensing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To numerically demonstrate the enhanced sensitivity and stability of SPR imaging biosensors using a graphene-on-silver substrate.
• To investigate the impact of graphene layers on silver substrate performance for SPR imaging.

Main Methods:

• Numerical simulation of SPR imaging biosensors.
• Utilizing graphene layers on a silver substrate.
• Comparing performance against conventional gold-film SPR biosensors.

Main Results:

• Graphene-on-silver substrates significantly increase SPR imaging sensitivity compared to gold-film sensors.
• A single graphene layer on a 60-nm silver film amplifies the SPR signal over threefold.
• The proposed substrate effectively prevents silver oxidation.

Conclusions:

• Graphene-on-silver substrates offer a promising new platform for highly sensitive SPR imaging biosensors.
• This technology enables sensitive and high-throughput assessment of multiple biomolecular interactions.
• The substrate design addresses key limitations of existing SPR biosensing technologies.