Hyperspectral imaging of plasmon resonances in metallic nanoparticles

The spectroscopy of metal nanoparticles shows great potential for label-free sensing. In this article we present a hyper-spectral imaging system combined with a microfluidic system, which allows full spectroscopic characterization of many individual nanoparticles simultaneously (>50 particles). With such a system we were able overcome several limitations that are present in LSPR sensing with nanoparticle ensemble. We experimentally quantified (incorporating atomic force microscopy as well) the correlation between geometry, position of plasmon resonance (λPeak) and sensitivity of the particles (Sb=1.63λPeak-812.47[nm/RIU]). We were able to follow the adsorption of protein layers and determined their spatial inhomogeneity with the help of the hyperspectral imaging.