title: High-performance biosensing using arrays of plasmonic nanotubes.
abstract: We show that aligned gold nanotube arrays capable of supporting plasmonic resonances can be used as high performance refractive index sensors in biomolecular binding reactions. A methodology to examine the sensing ability of the inside and outside walls of the nanotube structures is presented. The sensitivity of the plasmonic nanotubes is found to increase as the nanotube walls are exposed, and the sensing characteristic of the inside and outside walls is shown to be different. Finite element simulations showed good qualitative agreement with the observed behavior. Free standing gold nanotubes displayed bulk sensitivities in the region of 250 nm per refractive index unit and a signal-to-noise ratio better than 1000 upon protein binding which is highly competitive with state-of-the-art label-free sensors.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Nanostructured Media, IRCEP, Queen's University of Belfast, BT71NN, United Kingdom. j.mcphillips@qub.ac.uk
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McPhillips
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Magnus P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Jonsson
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Hendren
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: Fredrik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Höök
authors.forename: Anatoly V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Zayats
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Pollard
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry; D001360:Avidin / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000737:chemistry; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D011758:Pyrroles; C093483:neutravidin; D001360:Avidin; C067635:polypyrrole; D006046:Gold; D000537:Aluminum Oxide