Enhanced detection of virus particles by nanoisland-based localized surface plasmon resonance

In this paper, we investigate localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection based on nanoislands. Theoretical calculation performed with rigorous coupled-wave analysis and analytical transfer matrix method using effective medium theory suggests improvement on nanoislands in the limit of detection and sensitivity over conventional thin film-based SPR detection. Experimental results obtained with non-specific detection of ambient adenovirus confirm the improvement by more than one order of magnitude increase in the limit of detection. The enhancement achieved with nanoislands was explored in connection with efficient overlap between target and near-field distribution produced by nanoislands. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.