Plasmonic Metamaterial Ag Nanostructures on a Mirror for Colorimetric Sensing

In this study, we demonstrate the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) in the visible range by using nanostructures on mirrors. The nanohemisphere-on-mirror (NHoM) structure is based on random nanoparticles that were obtained by heat-treating silver thin films and does not require any top-down nanofabrication processes. We were able to successfully tune over a wide wavelength range and obtain full colors using the NHoM structures, which realized full coverage of the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) standard RGB (sRGB) color space. Additionally, we fabricated the periodic nanodisk-on-glass (NDoG) structure using electron beam lithography and compared it with the NHoM structure. Our analysis of dark-field microscopic images observed by a hyperspectral camera showed that the NHoM structure had less variation in the resonant wavelength by observation points compared with the periodic NDoG structure. In other words, the NHoM structure achieved a high color quality that is comparable to the periodic structure. Finally, we proposed colorimetric sensing as an application of the NHoM structure. We confirmed the significant improvement in performance of colorimetric sensing using the NHoM structure and succeeded in colorimetric sensing using protein drops. The ability to fabricate large areas in full color easily and inexpensively with our proposed structures makes them suitable for industrial applications, such as displays, holograms, biosensing, and security applications.