Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor Based on Smart Phone Platforms

Abstract

We demonstrate a fiber optic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor based on smart phone platforms. The light-weight optical components and sensing element are connected by optical fibers on a phone case. This SPR adaptor can be conveniently installed or removed from smart phones. The measurement, control and reference channels are illuminated by the light entering the lead-in fibers from the phone’s LED flash, while the light from the end faces of the lead-out fibers is detected by the phone’s camera. The SPR-sensing element is fabricated by a light-guiding silica capillary that is stripped off its cladding and coated with 50-nm gold film. Utilizing a smart application to extract the light intensity information from the camera images, the light intensities of each channel are recorded every 0.5 s with refractive index (RI) changes. The performance of the smart phone-based SPR platform for accurate and repeatable measurements was evaluated by detecting different concentrations of antibody binding to a functionalized sensing element, and the experiment results were validated through contrast experiments with a commercial SPR instrument. This cost-effective and portable SPR biosensor based on smart phones has many applications, such as medicine, health and environmental monitoring.

Angle-Scanning Surface Plasmon Resonance System with 3D Printed Components for Biorecognition Investigation

“…The cost of commercial SPRs varies from $10,000 to $5,000,000, and the refractive index resolution ranges from 10 −5 RIU (refractive index unit) to 10 −7 RIU. Many optical-fiber based SPRs have been studied intensively in the literature [13][14][15]. The structure of these devices is relatively simple.…”

Refractive Index Sensing through Surface Plasmon Resonance in Light-Diffusing Fibers

“…Among RI sensors, those based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) are especially useful as they permit label-free and real-time detection of biological/biochemical binding reactions [1][2][3]. In particular, fiber-optic SPR probes have the advantages of remote sensing, continuous analysis, and in situ monitoring.…”

Smartphones for sensing

“…When the measured noise level in the primary signal is 0.31 %, the resolution of the platform is 2.14 9 10 -6 refractive index unit (RIU) (1 9 10 -6 RIU for commercial SPR devices). A fiber optic SPR biosensor based on smartphone platforms was made by connecting the lightweight optical components and sensing element using optical fibers [41]. It is worth mentioning that Cunningham and co-workers [42] have made a label-free photonic crystal (PC) biosensor attached to a glass microscope slide of a smartphone.…”