Electronic Thesis/Dissertation
 

Plasmonic Sensing Platform Design, Simulation, Fabrication, and Optimization with Applications for both Gas-phase and Liquid-phase Biosensing

Open Access

This dissertation presents the exploitation of gold nanohole arrays (NHAs) and similarly nanopillar arrays (NPAs) as plasmonic sensing platforms for both gas-phase and liquid-phase biosensing applications relating to diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The development of platforms began with investigating the working principle of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), various configurations of periodic metallic nanostructures, and fabrication methods. Then surface functionalization, platform setup, and performance characterization were principally studied on NHA sensors. Furthermore, two types of detectors, a spectrometer and a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor imaging device, have been employed to establish relative levels of device discrimination ability and portability. Plasmonic sensing platforms were functionalized with a thin film of metal-organic framework (MOF) or a monolayer of attached antibodies, depending on the types of target analytes to be measured. The sensing platform integrated with a MOF-coated NHA sensor demonstrated the capability of detecting various CF-related gas-phase biomarkers, such as acetaldehyde and methanol, at concentrations approaching nmol/mol (ppb), even when high levels of water vapor was present in the test samples. The sensing platform integrated with an antibody-functionalized sensor exhibited initial feasibility for detecting SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins in the liquid-phase, at approximately ng/µL levels.

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