Optical Nanobio sensor for detection of heavy metal and hazardous molecules in consumer products

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) produce highly intense localized electromagnetic (EM) fields around their surfaces due to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. The surface plasmons are extremely sensitive to the changes of their surrounding environments. Plasmonic metal NPs have been immobilized on different substrates as LSPR based sensor for refractive index sensing, various chemical and biological detections. The sensing technique is based on the changes of the wavelength or color changes in visible region. Noble metal gold (Au), silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) are the most used plasmonic elements in nano scales because they have a strong plasmon resonance in the visible part of the EM spectrum. However, they have their own drawback as Au NPs has low plasmonic activity and Ag and Cu possess chemical instability. This project is proposed to achieve excellent plasmonic properties by combining two noble metals Au, Ag together with low cost Cu material as plasmonic alloy NPs to use as biosensor in consumer safety. Alloy NPs will be deposited on borosilicate glass substrate as primary sensing substrate and will be attached with polymer materials for specific detection of food contaminants. The aim of the project is to fabricate portable sensing system to utilize in personal or industrial applications.