An Ultrasensitive Silicon Photonic Ion Sensor Enabled by 2D Plasmonic Molybdenum Oxide

Silicon photonics has demonstrated great potential in ultrasensitive biochemical sensing. However, it is challenging for such sensors to detect small ions which are also of great importance in many biochemical processes. A silicon photonic ion sensor enabled by an ionic dopant–driven plasmonic mater...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2019-03, Vol.15 (9), p.e1805251-n/a
Main Authors: Ren, Guanghui, Zhang, Bao Yue, Yao, Qifeng, Zavabeti, Ali, Huertas, Cesar S., Brkljača, Robert, Khan, Muhammad Waqas, Nili, Hussein, Datta, Robi S., Khan, Hareem, Jannat, Azmira, Walia, Sumeet, Haque, Farjana, O'Dell, Luke A., Wang, Yichao, Zhu, Lianqing, Mitchell, Arnan, Ou, Jian Zhen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2D materials
Chemical sensors
Detection
doped semiconductors
integrated optics
ion sensors
Molybdenum
Molybdenum oxides
Nanotechnology
Organic chemistry
Photonics
Refractivity
Sensors
Silicon
silicon photonics
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Summary:Silicon photonics has demonstrated great potential in ultrasensitive biochemical sensing. However, it is challenging for such sensors to detect small ions which are also of great importance in many biochemical processes. A silicon photonic ion sensor enabled by an ionic dopant–driven plasmonic material is introduced here. The sensor consists of a microring resonator (MRR) coupled with a 2D restacked layer of near‐infrared plasmonic molybdenum oxide. When the 2D plasmonic layer interacts with ions from the environment, a strong change in the refractive index results in a shift in the MRR resonance wavelength and simultaneously the alteration of plasmonic absorption leads to the modulation of MRR transmission power, hence generating dual sensing outputs which is unique to other optical ion sensors. Proof‐of‐concept via a pH sensing model is demonstrated, showing up to 7 orders improvement in sensitivity per unit area across the range from 1 to 13 compared to those of other optical pH sensors. This platform offers the unique potential for ultrasensitive and robust measurement of changes in ionic environment, generating new modalities for on‐chip chemical sensors in the micro/nanoscale. A silicon photonic ion sensor enabled by a dopant‐driven 2D restacked layer of near‐infrared plasmonic molybdenum oxide is introduced. It has dual sensing outputs due to the refractive index and optical absorption changes of the 2D material in different ionic environments. The demonstrated pH sensing model shows up to 7 orders improvement in sensitivity per unit area.
ISSN:1613-6810
1613-6829
DOI:10.1002/smll.201805251