Issue 5, 2019

Nanoporous gold metamaterials for high sensitivity plasmonic sensing

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonance sensors are a well-established class of sensors that includes a very large variety of materials and detection schemes. However, the development of portable devices is still challenging due to the intrinsic complexity of the optical excitation/detection schemes. This work shows that nanoporous gold (NPG) films can overcome the said limitations by providing an excellent sensitivity without the need for sophisticated fabrication approaches and/or optical setups. The sensing mechanism is related to the co-localization of optical energy and analytes in the pores fostering an enhanced light–matter coupling. As a result, when molecules are adsorbed in the pores, the NPG film shows a significant spectral shift of the effective plasma frequency and an abrupt change of the reflectivity. By monitoring the reflectivity in the spectral region close to the plasma frequency (namely the plasma edge), it is possible to detect the analyte. Through a series of experiments, the authors demonstrated a sensitivity exceeding 15 000 nm per RIU in the near infrared range comparable with the state of the art of plasmonic metamaterials.

Graphical abstract: Nanoporous gold metamaterials for high sensitivity plasmonic sensing

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
14 mar 2019
Accepted
03 may 2019
First published
03 may 2019

Nanoscale Horiz., 2019,4, 1153-1157

Nanoporous gold metamaterials for high sensitivity plasmonic sensing

D. Garoli, E. Calandrini, G. Giovannini, A. Hubarevich, V. Caligiuri and F. De Angelis, Nanoscale Horiz., 2019, 4, 1153 DOI: 10.1039/C9NH00168A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements