Letters to Analytical Chemistry Silver Nanoparticles on a Plastic Platform for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensing

A cost-effective fabrication method for the preparation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensors supported on plastics is described. The silver-nanoparticles-on-plastic sensor (SNOPS) was fabricated by chemically modifying the surface of a common plastic, polyethyleneterephthalate(PET)toallowtheefficientimmobilization of Ag NPs. The LSPR of the SNOPS strip showed good sample-to-sample reproducibility. The analytical performance of the sensor strips for monitoring both thiol and protein adsorption, including bioaffinity, was examined. The limit of quantification to the adsorption of 11mercaptoundecanoic acid was 500 nM and for the detection of streptavidin was ∼9.5 nM. SNOPS can then be used as a cheap, versatile, and yet sensitive LSPR biosensor.