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Size-selected silver clusters on polymer surfaces as plasmonic transducers for nano-biosensors

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Bibliographic Details
Summary:The phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was used for detection of proteins incubated on size-selected silver clusters embedded in poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layers. The silver clusters were produced by magnetron sputtering and subsequently sizeselected by electrostatic quadrupole mass spectrometer (EQMS). The size-selection process was followed by the deposition of silver clusters with low kinetic energies, i.e. in a soft-landing regime on PMMA, in order to avoid the deformation and/or fragmentation of the silver clusters. The role of PMMA hardness (viscosity) on cluster immersion was investigated to control the homogeneity in distribution of clusters, which can be partly or fully embedded in PMMA. The viscosity of the polymers was found to be an essential part in the immersion of the silver nanoparticles into the polymer, which can be controlled through tuning of its viscosity or hardness utilizing simple thermal annealing of the samples. The optical properties of the silver clusters - in particular the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) – were measured with the optical absorption spectra of the silver clusters, in which was possible to clearly identify an intensity and a resonance band of the deposited clusters. Proteins of interest were incubated on the clusters utilizing antibody-antigen scheme and clear change in the parameters of the LSPR band was observed allowing protein detection and demonstrating applicability of the fabricated composites in bio-sensing.
Main Authors:Brasil, Francisco Maria Cristão Marques Luquet
Subject:Optical nano-biosensors localized plasmon resonance
Year:2017
Country:Portugal
Document type:master thesis
Access type:open access
Associated institution:Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Language:English
Origin:Repositório Institucional da UNL
Description
Summary:The phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was used for detection of proteins incubated on size-selected silver clusters embedded in poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layers. The silver clusters were produced by magnetron sputtering and subsequently sizeselected by electrostatic quadrupole mass spectrometer (EQMS). The size-selection process was followed by the deposition of silver clusters with low kinetic energies, i.e. in a soft-landing regime on PMMA, in order to avoid the deformation and/or fragmentation of the silver clusters. The role of PMMA hardness (viscosity) on cluster immersion was investigated to control the homogeneity in distribution of clusters, which can be partly or fully embedded in PMMA. The viscosity of the polymers was found to be an essential part in the immersion of the silver nanoparticles into the polymer, which can be controlled through tuning of its viscosity or hardness utilizing simple thermal annealing of the samples. The optical properties of the silver clusters - in particular the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) – were measured with the optical absorption spectra of the silver clusters, in which was possible to clearly identify an intensity and a resonance band of the deposited clusters. Proteins of interest were incubated on the clusters utilizing antibody-antigen scheme and clear change in the parameters of the LSPR band was observed allowing protein detection and demonstrating applicability of the fabricated composites in bio-sensing.

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