Nanostructured substrates for portable and miniature SPR biosensors

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing has matured into a valuable analytical technique for measurements related to biomolecules, environmental contaminants, and the food industry. Contemporary SPR instruments are mainly suitable for laboratory-based measurements. However, several point-of-measurement applications would benefit from simple, small, portable and inexpensive sensors to assess the health condition of a patient, potential environmental contamination, or food safety issues. This Trend article explores nanostructured substrates for improving the sensitivity of classical SPR instruments and nanoparticle (NP)-based colorimetric substrates that may provide a solution to the development of point-of-measurement SPR techniques. Novel nanomaterials and methodology capable of enhancing the sensitivity of classical SPR sensors are destined to improve the limits of detection of miniature SPR instruments to the level required for most applications. In a different approach, paper or substrate-based SPR assays based on NPs, are a highly promising topic of research that may facilitate the widespread use of a novel class of miniature and portable SPR instruments.

Gold colloid-nanostructured surfaces for enhanced piezoelectric immunosensing of staphylococcal enterotoxin A

“…Recently, interest has been drawn towards the contribution of nanomaterials in the development of biosensors for toxin analysis [27,28]. Among nanomaterials, gold nanoparticles (AuNP) have attracted special interest in the field of biosensor development owing to their outstanding physico-chemical features and their ease of synthesis and functionalization [29][30][31]. Their assembly on planar substrates was shown to increase the response of mid-IR optical immunosensors [32,33].…”

Nanobiosensors and Nanobioanalyses

“…In recent years, researchers have been interested in developing novel SPR substrates for improving the sensitivity of SPR sensors adapted to portable SPR sensing (Breault-Turcot and Masson 2012 ). Many researchers are actively working in making SPR instruments smaller, cheaper and simpler to operate.…”

“…Nanostructures are becoming ubiquitous in SPR sensing (Bolduc and Masson 2011 ;Roh et al 2011 ;Breault-Turcot and Masson 2012 ;Couture et al 2013b ). The use of grating and grating-like SPR substrates currently represents one of the best options for enhancing the sensitivity of SPR sensors.…”

Surface characterization and antifouling properties of nanostructured gold chips for imaging surface plasmon resonance biosensing

“…1a and 2. This forms a metal-dielectric pattern that acts as a metallic nanograting [12,13], thus eliminating the use of expensive and delicate prism-based optics and contributing to miniaturization, portability and low costs of the instrument. Additionally, the periodicity of a nanostructured gold surface is known to influence the SPR signal [14].…”