Photonic Crystals for Chemical Sensing and Biosensing

Abstract

This Review covers photonic crystals (PhCs) and their use for sensing mainly chemical and biochemical parameters, with a particular focus on the materials applied. Specific sections are devoted to a) a lead-in into natural and synthetic photonic nanoarchitectures, b) the various kinds of structures of PhCs, c) reflection and diffraction in PhCs, d) aspects of sensing based on mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical, magnetic, and purely chemical stimuli, e) aspects of biosensing based on biomolecules incorporated into PhCs, and f) current trends and limitations of such sensors.

Molecular imprinted photonic crystal for sensing of biomolecules

“…According to variations in the refractive index and period in space, three kinds of structures of PhCs may be discerned, including one-dimensional (1D), twodimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) [63][64] (Figure 4). As 3D PhCs periodicity potentially manipulates the flow of light in all directions, it has attracted more and more attention in the fields of biomolecule detection, real-time monitoring of enzyme activity, cell morphology research, and so on.…”

“…Asher and co-workers pioneered the concept of 3D photonic sensors based on ordered crystalline colloidal array embedded within functional hydrogel matrices, and used to detect various stimuli including pH [65], glucose [66], creatinine [67], ionic strength [68], temperature [69] and so on. Other groups such as Li [70], Wolfbeis [64], and Yin [71] also devoted to studying 3D photonic sensors that display a tunable optical response sensitive to various analyte. For instance, Asher developed a photonic crystal glucosesensing material which can be used for monitoring of glucose in tear fluid with high selectivity [72].…”

Colloidal crystals and water: Perspectives on liquid–solid nanoscale phenomena in wet particulate media

“…CCs (also referred to as artificial opals) are in their own right a relevant material class for numerous applications in photonics and energy [50,51], detection [52,53] or as atomic/molecular models [54]. For such uses it is important to know how the unavoidable presence of liquid (e.g.…”

A versatile salicylic acid precursor method for preparing titanate microspheres

“…Inverse opalphotonic crystals assembled from microspheres are regarded as a bridge connecting artificial and natural materials. Such materials are utilized in chemical sensing, solar cells, and biosensing [10][11][12] applications. Microspherical materials have been demonstrated as key materials in energy and environment applications.…”