Surface Plasmonic Sensors: Sensing Mechanism and Recent Applications

Abstract

Surface plasmonic sensors have been widely used in biology, chemistry, and environment monitoring. These sensors exhibit extraordinary sensitivity based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effects, and they have found commercial applications. In this review, we present recent progress in the field of surface plasmonic sensors, mainly in the configurations of planar metastructures and optical-fiber waveguides. In the metastructure platform, the optical sensors based on LSPR, hyperbolic dispersion, Fano resonance, and two-dimensional (2D) materials integration are introduced. The optical-fiber sensors integrated with LSPR/SPR structures and 2D materials are summarized. We also introduce the recent advances in quantum plasmonic sensing beyond the classical shot noise limit. The challenges and opportunities in this field are discussed.

Polymeric Nanocomposites for Environmental and Industrial Applications

“…Light is not affected by electromagnetic fields as it is a source of remote stimulation. In addition, nanofillers, particularly metal-oxide nanoparticles, exhibit an important property of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) through the interaction between the surface of particles and the light source [55][56][57]. The shape, nature, and size of the nanomaterial determine LSPR.…”

Label-free detection of single nanoparticles with disordered nanoisland surface plasmon sensor

“…In the push to achieve greater sensitivity on an SPR platform, numerous strategies have been explored, including analyte labelling [33], signal amplification [34], use of alternative materials such as aluminium or graphene [35,36], and grating based designs [37,38]. Motivated by the single molecule sensitivity achievable using localised surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) [13][14][15], the use of plasmonic assemblies and nanostructured substrates has also received significant attention [39]. Single plasmonic nanopores have, for example, enabled single molecule detection and spectroscopy [17][18][19], whilst nanogap and nanohole arrays have facilitated monitoring of biomolecular binding [40][41][42].…”

“…As a result, plasmonic interferometers can sensitively monitor growth of thin protein layers, detect single exosomes and identify particle characteristics from either spatial interference or spectral fringes [16,47,48]. More recently, developmental techniques based on magneto-plasmonics [49] and quantum plasmon states for noise suppression [39,50] have also been investigated.…”

High Sensitivity Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Based on Periodic Multilayer Thin Films

“…2D materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), and black phosphorous (BP) are also used as a biomolecular recognition element (BRE) on a chip-SPR platform to increase the adsorption of biomolecules [14,15]. Among these materials, graphene has attracted the most attention due to its superior functions including large surface area, charge carrier mobility, and rich π conjugation structure.…”