Urea and creatinine detection on nano-laminated gold thin film using Kretschmann-based surface plasmon resonance biosensor

This work investigates the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response of 50-nm thick nano-laminated gold film using Kretschmann-based biosensing for detection of urea and creatinine in solution of various concentrations (non-enzymatic samples). Comparison was made with the presence of urease and creatininase enzymes in the urea and creatinine solutions (enzymatic samples), respectively. Angular interrogation technique was applied using optical wavelengths of 670 nm and 785 nm. The biosensor detects the presence of urea and creatinine at concentrations ranging from 50–800 mM for urea samples and 10–200 mM for creatinine samples. The purpose of studying the enzymatic sample was mainly to enhance the sensitivity of the sensor towards urea and creatinine in the samples. Upon exposure to 670 nm optical wavelength, the sensitivity of 1.4°/M was detected in non-enzymatic urea samples and 4°/M in non-enzymatic creatinine samples. On the other hand, sensor sensitivity as high as 16.2°/M in urea-urease samples and 10°/M in creatinine-creatininase samples was detected. The enhanced sensitivity possibly attributed to the increase in refractive index of analyte sensing layer due to urea-urease and creatinine-creatininase coupling activity. This work has successfully proved the design and demonstrated a proof-of-concept experiment using a low-cost and easy fabrication of Kretschmann based nano-laminated gold film SPR biosensor for detection of urea and creatinine using urease and creatininase enzymes.