Large-Scale Functionalized Metasurface-Based SARS-CoV-2 Detection and Quantification

Abstract

Plasmonic metasurfaces consist of metal–dielectric interfaces that are excitable at background and leakage resonant modes. The sharp and plasmonic excitation profile of metal-free electrons on metasurfaces at the nanoscale can be used for practical applications in diverse fields, including optoelectronics, energy harvesting, and biosensing. Currently, Fano resonant metasurface fabrication processes for biosensor applications are costly, need clean room access, and involve limited small-scale surface areas that are not easy for accurate sample placement. Here, we leverage the large-scale active area with uniform surface patterns present on optical disc-based metasurfaces as a cost-effective method to excite asymmetric plasmonic modes, enabling tunable optical Fano resonance interfacing with a microfluidic channel for multiple target detection in the visible wavelength range. We engineered plasmonic metasurfaces for biosensing through efficient layer-by-layer surface functionalization toward real-time measurement of target binding at the molecular scale. Further, we demonstrated the quantitative detection of antibodies, proteins, and the whole viral particles of SARS-CoV-2 with a high sensitivity and specificity, even distinguishing it from similar RNA viruses such as influenza and MERS. This cost-effective plasmonic metasurface platform offers a small-scale light-manipulation system, presenting considerable potential for fast, real-time detection of SARS-CoV-2 and pathogens in resource-limited settings.

Smart Nanostructured Materials for SARS-CoV-2 and Variants Prevention, Biosensing and Vaccination

“…Such metasurfaces, once coupled with spectrometers, are able to provide specific and sensitive optical signals in response to bonding to target biological molecules, e.g., proteins, DNA, antibodies, or viruses. A recent study introduces a simple strategy to prepare a cost-effective, large-scale biosensing platform for SARS-CoV-2 detection [ 179 ]. In its design, commercial blank DVD disks were used as starting templates for manufacturing the plasmonic platform.…”

“…( c , d ) Optical response of the proposed sensor is based on the resonance wavelength shift based on molecular binding that allows differential identification of SARS and influenza from their specific and nonspecific binding events. Reprinted from [ 179 ], with permission from American Chemical Society.…”

Multifunctional Nanoprobe-Amplified Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay on Capillary: A Universal Platform for Simple, Rapid, and Ultrasensitive Dual-Mode Pathogen Detection

“…The COVID-19 outbreak not only poses a growing threat to public health and the global economy but also fuels a great demand for effective diagnosis of infection diseases caused by pathogens, mainly viruses and bacteria. − For clinical tests, culture counting, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based nucleic acid quantification analysis, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are the gold standard and most commonly used approaches for pathogen molecular diagnosis. , Compared to culture counting and qPCR, ELISA not only requires relatively simple equipment and low operating costs but also ensures good specificity due to the antigen–antibody binding. However, the ELISA method may sometimes give false-negative results due to its fairly low sensitivity and easy inactivation of natural enzyme . On the other hand, ELISA requires multiple sample preparation steps such as standard preparation, antibody incubation, washing, and blocking, resulting in turnaround times similar to or longer than those of culture counting and qPCR techniques. − Hence, it is highly desirable to develop an improved ELISA method with rapid processing time, high sensitivity, simple sample preparation steps, and initial target enrichment to overcome these challenges.…”

“…However, the ELISA method may sometimes give false-negative results due to its fairly low sensitivity and easy inactivation of natural enzyme. 6 On the other hand, ELISA requires multiple sample preparation steps such as standard preparation, antibody incubation, washing, and blocking, resulting in turnaround times similar to or longer than those of culture counting and qPCR techniques. 7−10 Hence, it is highly desirable to develop an improved ELISA method with rapid processing time, high sensitivity, simple sample preparation steps, and initial target enrichment to overcome these challenges.…”

Metasurface-Incorporated Optofluidic Refractive Index Sensing for Identification of Liquid Chemicals through Vision Intelligence

“…Metasurfaces alter the optical characteristics of a light beam, such as phase, intensity, polarization, and shape, exhibiting unprecedented electromagnetic domain properties. − All-dielectric metasurface-based optical devices have been used as highly sensitive optical platforms for the reliable and rapid detection of biomolecules. − They exploited the resonant wavelength shift of these devices, which were kept in close contact with a biomolecule, for their strong light-matter interaction at subwavelength scales. , In conformance with a lab-on-a-chip and micro total analysis system, ,− metasurface-integrated optofluidic devices help develop a miniaturized biosensing system featuring an expedited real-time chemical analysis . Recently reported metasurface-based biosensing approaches leveraged the hyperspectral multipixel imaging of the spectral resonance shift in the meta-atoms of an all-dielectric device with a high-Q-factor resonator and the analysis of the captured images using complex computation techniques; , this has initiated the development of compact spectrometer-free biosensors.…”