Plasmonic nanosensors with inverse sensitivity by means of enzyme-guided crystal growth

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De La Rica, Roberto and Rodriguez-Lorenzo, Laura and Alvarez-Puebla, Ramon and Liz-Marzan, Luis and Stevens, Molly (2012) Plasmonic nanosensors with inverse sensitivity by means of enzyme-guided crystal growth. Nature Materials, 11. 604–607. ISSN 1476-1122 (https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3337)

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Abstract

Lowering the limit of detection is key to the design of sensors needed for food safety regulations1, 2, environmental policies3, 4, 5 and the diagnosis of severe diseases6, 7, 8, 9, 10. However, because conventional transducers generate a signal that is directly proportional to the concentration of the target molecule, ultralow concentrations of the molecule result in variations in the physical properties of the sensor that are tiny, and therefore difficult to detect with confidence. Here we present a signal-generation mechanism that redefines the limit of detection of nanoparticle sensors by inducing a signal that is larger when the target molecule is less concentrated. The key step to achieve this inverse sensitivity is to use an enzyme that controls the rate of nucleation of silver nanocrystals on plasmonic transducers. We demonstrate the outstanding sensitivity and robustness of this approach by detecting the cancer biomarker prostate-specific antigen down to 10−18 g ml−1 (4 × 10−20 M) in whole serum.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:45650
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    2012
    Published
    27 May 2012
    Published Online
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:05 Nov 2013 14:42
    Last modified:15 Dec 2024 20:00
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/45650
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