Functional Nanostructured Plasmonic Materials

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2010-03, Vol.22 (10), p.1102-1110
• Main Authors: Yao, Jimin, Le, An-Phong, Gray, Stephen K., Moore, Jeffrey S., Rogers, John A., Nuzzo, Ralph G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arrays; Biosensing Techniques; Biosensors; Crystallization; Crystals; Devices; Gold - chemistry; MATERIALS SCIENCE; Micrometers; Monolayers; Nanocomposites; Nanodevices; Nanoimprinting; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nanostructures - chemistry; Nanostructures - ultrastructure; Plasmonics; Sensors; Sulfhydryl Compounds - chemistry; Surface plasmon resonance
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.200904097

Plasmonic crystals fabricated with precisely controlled arrays of subwavelength metal nanostructures provide a promising platform for sensing and imaging of surface binding events with micrometer spatial resolution over large areas. Soft nanoimprint lithography provides a robust, cost‐effective method for producing highly uniform plasmonic crystals of this type with predictable optical properties. The tunable multimode plasmonic resonances of these crystals and their ability for integration into lab‐on‐a‐chip microfluidic systems can both be harnessed to achieve exceptionally high analytical sensitivities down to submonolayer levels using even a common optical microscope, circumventing numerous technical limitations of more conventional surface plasmon resonance techniques. In this article, we highlight some recent advances in this field with an emphasis on the fabrication and characterization of these integrated devices and their demonstrated applications. Plasmonic crystals that offer exceptional analytical power along tunable wavelengths present a promising platform for the sensing and imaging of surface binding events with high spatial resolution and submonolayer sensitivity. The design, fabrication, and characterization of these devices and their applications in biochemical sensing and imaging are briefly reviewed here. The figure shows a transmitted white light plasmonic image of 1‐octadecanethiol lines printed on the Au surface of a full 3D plasmonic crystal.