Development of a combined surface plasmon resonance/surface acoustic wave device for the characterization of biomolecules

Abstract

It is known that acoustic sensor devices, if operated in liquid phase, are sensitive not just to the mass of the analyte but to various other parameters, such as size, shape, charge and elastic constants of the analyte as well as bound and viscously entrained water. This can be used to extract valuable information about a biomolecule, particularly if the acoustic device is combined with another sensor element which is sensitive to the mass or amount of analyte only. The latter is true in good approximation for various optical sensor techniques. This work reports on the development of a combined surface plasmon resonance / surface acoustic wave sensor system which is designed for the investigation of biomolecules such as proteins or DNA. Results for deposition of neutravidin and DNA are reported.

Acoustic detection of DNA conformation in genetic assays combined with PCR

“…are not achievable with this method, which however does not use any means of signal enhancement, labels etc. In this case, the minimum amount required in order to have a measurable signal is determined by the operating frequency of the acoustic device and lies in the nM to sub-nM range using the 35 MHz QCM15 and 155 MHz SAW devices29. In the current biosensing format where a target amplification method is included, the need for achieving extremely low detection limits is obviously eliminated.…”

New trends in instrumental design for surface plasmon resonance-based biosensors

“…Moreover, it could be combined to additional devices such as electrochemical instrumentation (Baba et al 2006). Other recent combinations include surface acoustic wave sensor (Bender et al 2009; Francis et al 2006; Galopin et al 2007), HPLC (Du and Zhou 2008), and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) (Kim et al 2010). …”

Quantum plasmons with optical-range frequencies in doped few-layer graphene

“…These phenomena, intriguing in their own right, are also important for multifaceted applications. Plasmonic nanostructures are finding applications in integrated nanophotonics [1], biosensing [2][3][4], photovoltaic devices [5][6][7], single-photon transistors [8], single-molecule spectroscopy [9], and metamaterials [10,11]. The current interest in quantum nanophotonics and plasmonics is in part, driven by new materials, particularly lowdimensional solids, that access new ranges of frequency and transmission speeds.…”