Thickness-Sensing Sandwiched Plasmonic Biosensors Enable Label-Free Naked-Eye Antibody Quantification

Clinical serology assays for detecting the antibodies of the virus are time-consuming, are less sensitive/selective, or rely on sophisticated detection instruments. Here, we develop a sandwiched plasmonic biosensor (SPB) for supersensitive thickness-sensing via utilizing the distance dependent electromagnetic coupling in sandwiched plasmonic nanostructures. SPBs quantitatively amplify the thickness changes on the nanoscale range (sensitivity: similar to 2% nm-1) into macroscopically visible signals, thereby enabling the rapid, label-free, and naked-eye detection of targeted biomolecular species (via the thickness change caused by immunobinding events). As a proof of concept, this assay affords a broad dynamic range (7 orders of magnitude) and a low LOD (similar to 0.3 pM), allowing for the extremely accurate SARS-CoV-2 antibody quantification (sensitivity/specificity: 100%/similar to 99%, with a portable optical fiber device). This strategy is suitable for high-throughput multiplexed detection and smartphone-based sensing at the point-of-care, which can be expanded for various sensing applications beyond the fields of viral infections and vaccination.

Automated summary

In this study, a sandwiched plasmonic biosensor was developed for rapid, label-free, and naked-eye detection of targeted biomolecular species, such as SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The sensor demonstrated a broad dynamic range and low limit of detection.