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We combine nanofluidics and nanoplasmonics for surface-plasmon resonance (SPR) sensing using flow-through nanohole arrays. The role of surface plasmons on resonant transmission motivates the application of nanohole arrays as surface-based biosensors. Research to date, however, has focused on dead-ended holes, and therefore failed to harness the benefits of nanoconfined transport combined with SPR sensing. The flow-through format enables rapid transport of reactants to the active surface inside the nanoholes, with potential for significantly improved time of analysis and biomarker yield through nanohole sieving. We apply the flow-through method to monitor the formation of a monolayer and the immobilization of an ovarian cancer biomarker specific antibody on the sensing surface in real-time. The flow-through method resulted in a 6-fold improvement in response time as compared to the established flow-over method.

We introduce Plasmene- in analogy to graphene-as free-standing, one-particle-thick, superlattice sheets of nanoparticles ("meta-atoms") from the "plasmonic periodic table", which has implications in many important research disciplines. Here, we report on a general bottom-up self-assembly approach to fabricate giant plasmene nanosheets (i.e., plasmene with nanoscale thickness but with macroscopic lateral dimensions) as thin as ∼40 nm and as wide as ∼3 mm, corresponding to an aspect ratio of ∼75,000. In conjunction with top-down lithography, such robust giant nanosheets could be milled into one-dimensional nanoribbons and folded into three-dimensional origami. Both experimental and theoretical studies reveal that our giant plasmene nanosheets are analogues of graphene from the plasmonic nanoparticle family, simultaneously possessing unique structural features and plasmon propagation functionalities.