Issue 20, 2014

Plasmonic nanoparticle-film calipers for rapid and ultrasensitive dimensional and refractometric detection

Abstract

In this study, we develop an ultrasensitive nanoparticle (NP)-film caliper that functions with high resolution (angstrom scale) in response to both the dimensions and refractive index of the spacer sandwiched between the NPs and the film. The anisotropy of the plasmonic gap mode in the NP-film caliper can be characterized readily using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) without the need for further optical modeling. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to report the use of SE to study the plasmonic gap modes in NP-film calipers and to demonstrate that SE is a robust and convenient method for analyzing NP-film calipers. The high sensitivity of this system originates from the plasmonic gap mode in the NP-film caliper, induced by electromagnetic coupling between the NPs and the film. The refractometric sensitivity of this NP-film caliper reaches up to 314 nm per RIU, which is superior to those of other NP-based sensors. The NP-film caliper also provides high dimensional resolution, down to the angstrom scale. In this study, the shift in wavelength in response to the change in gap spacing is approximately 9 nm Å−1. Taking advantage of the ultrasensitivity of this NP-film caliper, we develop a platform for discriminating among thiol-containing amino acids.

Graphical abstract: Plasmonic nanoparticle-film calipers for rapid and ultrasensitive dimensional and refractometric detection

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Jan 2014
Accepted
22 Jul 2014
First published
23 Jul 2014

Analyst, 2014,139, 5103-5111

Plasmonic nanoparticle-film calipers for rapid and ultrasensitive dimensional and refractometric detection

C. Yu, K. Lin, Y. Tseng, S. Chou, C. Shao, H. Chen and W. Su, Analyst, 2014, 139, 5103 DOI: 10.1039/C4AN00186A

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