Plasmonic Biosensors: Review

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plasmonic biosensors have extremely unique properties due to their high specificity and sensitivity in the detection of pathogens, making them of great interest to be used in various areas such as viral detection, diagnosing pollutants in the environment, and monitoring biomolecules in food. Plasmonic biosensors work by functionalizing a surface with an antibody which upon binding to an antigen results in variation in the angle of reflection which represents changes in the resonance conditions observed. Plasmonic biosensors are therefore thoroughly designed, fabricated, and optimized using explicitly selected plasmonic substrates. Hence, choosing the appropriate materials, structures, and functionality is of great importance to develop plasmonic biosensors highly specific for their application in real-life situations. Sensors based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR), localized SPR (LSPR), and Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) have been used over the years to monitor environmental biological molecules, ensure food safety, and detect up-to-date pathogens and viruses. This review article will discuss the mechanism of plasmonic biosensors, methods of controlling the efficiency, and their different designs when used in various applications. ABSTRACT: Biosensors have globally been considered as biomedical diagnostic tools required in abundant areas including the development of diseases, detection of viruses, diagnosing ecological pollution, food monitoring, and a wide range of other diagnostic and therapeutic biomedical research. Recently, the broadly emerging and promising technique of plasmonic resonance has proven to provide label-free and highly sensitive real-time analysis when used in biosensing applications. In this review, a thorough discussion regarding the most recent techniques used in the design, fabrication, and characterization of plasmonic biosensors is conducted in addition to a comparison between those techniques with regard to their advantages and possible drawbacks when applied in different fields.