Flexible plasmonic nanodisk arrays as SERS and biosensing platforms

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Spectroscopy

Background:

• Developing sensitive and cost-effective platforms for chemical and biological detection is crucial.
• Existing methods often face limitations in sensitivity, scalability, or flexibility.
• Plasmonic nanostructures offer unique optical properties for enhanced sensing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a simple, low-cost, large-scale, and highly sensitive flexible plasmonic nanodisk array.
• To evaluate its performance for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and biosensing.
• To demonstrate its potential for detecting low concentrations of target molecules.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of flexible plasmonic nanodisk arrays on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate.
• Deposition of a gold (Au) film onto UV nanodisks.
• Characterization of optical properties and sensing capabilities using 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA).

Main Results:

• The nanodisk arrays exhibit localized plasmonic modes with enhanced electric fields.
• Demonstrated high sensitivity for SERS detection of 4-MBA down to 10^-9 M with an enhancement factor of ~10⁶.
• Showcased excellent bulk and surface sensitivity for detecting BSA biomolecules at concentrations as low as 10^-7 M.

Conclusions:

• The proposed flexible plasmonic nanodisk arrays are a promising platform for highly sensitive SERS and biosensing.
• The simple fabrication and low cost make it suitable for large-scale applications.
• This technology holds significant potential for various sensing detection applications.