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Aluminum Nanoholes for Optical Biosensing
Carlos Angulo Barrios1,2, Víctor Canalejas-Tejero3, Sonia Herranz4
1Instituto de Sistemas Optoelectrónicos y Microtecnología (ISOM), ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, Madrid 28040, Spain. carlos.angulo.barrios@upm.es.
Biosensors
|July 18, 2015
Summary
Aluminum nanoholes offer advanced biosensing capabilities. Researchers developed methods to overcome aluminum corrosion, enabling novel applications in wearable sensors and localized polymer synthesis.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Materials Science
- Optics
Background:
- Sub-wavelength nanohole arrays in thin metal films exhibit unique optical properties for nanoscale interactions.
- Aluminum is a cost-effective metal with desirable optical and electrical properties, but prone to corrosion.
- Aluminum's potential in biosensing has been limited by degradation issues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in aluminum nanohole (NHA) platforms for biosensing applications.
- To present strategies for overcoming aluminum degradation in NHA devices.
- To highlight novel applications of aluminum nanoholes in sensing and wearable technology.
Main Methods:
- Development of a method to prevent aluminum degradation in nanohole array (NHA) fabrication.
- Demonstration of aluminum NHA immunosensors on compact disc supports.
- Utilizing aluminum nanoholes as optical waveguides for localized photopolymerization.
- Fabrication of transferable aluminum NHAs onto flexible tapes.
Main Results:
- Successfully circumvented aluminum degradation, enabling stable NHA immunosensors.
- Demonstrated the synthesis of submicron molecularly imprinted polymers using aluminum nanoholes as waveguides.
- Created transferable aluminum NHAs on flexible substrates for potential wearable applications.
Conclusions:
- Aluminum nanohole platforms show significant promise for advanced (bio)sensing.
- Overcoming aluminum's corrosion issues unlocks its commercial potential in biosensing.
- Aluminum nanoholes can be integrated into flexible and wearable sensing technologies.
