Multi-parametric surface plasmon resonance (MP-SPR) is based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR), an established real-time label-free method for biomolecular interaction analysis, but it uses a different optical setup, a goniometric SPR configuration. While MP-SPR provides same kinetic information as SPR (equilibrium constant, dissociation constant, association constant), it provides also structural information (refractive index, layer thickness). Hence, MP-SPR measures both surface interactions and nanolayer properties. [1]
The goniometric SPR method was researched alongside focused beam SPR and Otto configurations at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 1980s by Dr. Janusz Sadowski. [2] The goniometric SPR optics was commercialized by Biofons Oy for use in point-of-care applications. Introduction of additional measurement laser wavelengths and first thin film analyses were performed in 2011 giving way to MP-SPR method.
The MP-SPR optical setup measures at multiple wavelengths simultaneously (similarly to spectroscopic SPR), but instead of measuring at a fixed angle, it rather scans across a wide range of θ angles (for instance 40 degrees). This results in measurements of full SPR curves at multiple wavelengths providing additional information about structure and dynamic conformation of the film. [3]
The measured full SPR curves (x-axis: angle, y-axis: reflected light intensity) can be transcribed into sensograms (x-axis: time, y-axis: selected parameter such as peak minimum, light intensity, peak width). [4] The sensograms can be fitted using binding models to obtain kinetic parameters including on- and off-rates and affinity. The full SPR curves are used to fit Fresnel equations to obtain thickness and refractive index of the layers. Also due to the ability of scanning the whole SPR curve, MP-SPR is able to separate bulk effect and analyte binding from each other using parameters of the curve.
Molecular interactions | Layer properties |
---|---|
Kinetics, PureKinetics (kon, koff) | Refractive index (n) |
Affinity (KD) | Thickness (d) |
Concentration (c) | Extinction coefficient (k) |
Adsorption/Absorption | Density (ρ) |
Desorption | Surface coverage (Γ) |
Adhesion | Swelling (Δd) |
Electrochemistry (E, I, omega) | Optical dispersion (n(λ)) |
While QCM-D measures wet mass, MP-SPR and other optical methods measure dry mass, which enables analysis of water content of nanocellulose films.
The method has been used in life sciences, material sciences and biosensor development. In life sciences, the main applications focus on pharmaceutical development including small-molecule, antibody or nanoparticle interactions with target with a biomembrane [5] or with a living cell monolayer. [4] As first in the world, MP-SPR is able to separate transcellular and paracellular drug uptake [4] in real-time and label-free for targeted drug delivery. In biosensor development, MP-SPR is used for assay development for point-of-care applications. [3] [6] [7] [8] Typical developed biosensors include electrochemical printed biosensors, ELISA and SERS. In material sciences, MP-SPR is used for optimization of thin solid films from Ångströms to 100 nanometers (graphene, metals, oxides), [9] soft materials up to microns (nanocellulose, polyelectrolyte) including nanoparticles. Applications including thin film solar cells, barrier coatings including anti-reflective coatings, antimicrobial surfaces, self-cleaning glass, plasmonic metamaterials, electro-switching surfaces, layer-by-layer assembly, and graphene. [10] [11] [12] [13]
Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid–gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related practical applications are classed as surface engineering. The science encompasses concepts such as heterogeneous catalysis, semiconductor device fabrication, fuel cells, self-assembled monolayers, and adhesives. Surface science is closely related to interface and colloid science. Interfacial chemistry and physics are common subjects for both. The methods are different. In addition, interface and colloid science studies macroscopic phenomena that occur in heterogeneous systems due to peculiarities of interfaces.
In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantization of plasma oscillations, just like phonons are quantizations of mechanical vibrations. Thus, plasmons are collective oscillations of the free electron gas density. For example, at optical frequencies, plasmons can couple with a photon to create another quasiparticle called a plasmon polariton.
A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element, e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc., is a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts with, binds with, or recognizes the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element, which transforms one signal into another one, works in a physicochemical way: optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, electrochemiluminescence etc., resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element, to easily measure and quantify. The biosensor reader device connects with the associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element. The readers are usually custom-designed and manufactured to suit the different working principles of biosensors.
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice nanostructure. The name is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, reflecting the fact that the graphite allotrope of carbon contains numerous double bonds.
Polyelectrolytes are polymers whose repeating units bear an electrolyte group. Polycations and polyanions are polyelectrolytes. These groups dissociate in aqueous solutions (water), making the polymers charged. Polyelectrolyte properties are thus similar to both electrolytes (salts) and polymers and are sometimes called polysalts. Like salts, their solutions are electrically conductive. Like polymers, their solutions are often viscous. Charged molecular chains, commonly present in soft matter systems, play a fundamental role in determining structure, stability and the interactions of various molecular assemblies. Theoretical approaches to describing their statistical properties differ profoundly from those of their electrically neutral counterparts, while technological and industrial fields exploit their unique properties. Many biological molecules are polyelectrolytes. For instance, polypeptides, glycosaminoglycans, and DNA are polyelectrolytes. Both natural and synthetic polyelectrolytes are used in a variety of industries.
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is the resonant oscillation of conduction electrons at the interface between negative and positive permittivity material stimulated by incident light. SPR is the basis of many standard tools for measuring adsorption of material onto planar metal surfaces or onto the surface of metal nanoparticles. It is the fundamental principle behind many color-based biosensor applications, different lab-on-a-chip sensors and diatom photosynthesis.
Biacore was a life science products company based in Sweden. In June 2006 Biacore was sold for $390 million and became a product brand under GE Healthcare life Sciences, which became Cytiva in April 2020.
Extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) is the phenomenon of greatly enhanced transmission of light through a subwavelength aperture in an otherwise opaque metallic film which has been patterned with a regularly repeating periodic structure. Generally when light of a certain wavelength falls on a subwavelength aperture, it is diffracted isotropically in all directions evenly, with minimal far-field transmission. This is the understanding from classical aperture theory as described by Bethe. In EOT however, the regularly repeating structure enables much higher transmission efficiency to occur, up to several orders of magnitude greater than that predicted by classical aperture theory. It was first described in 1998.
Surface plasmons (SPs) are coherent delocalized electron oscillations that exist at the interface between any two materials where the real part of the dielectric function changes sign across the interface. SPs have lower energy than bulk plasmons which quantise the longitudinal electron oscillations about positive ion cores within the bulk of an electron gas.
Nucleic acid methods are the techniques used to study nucleic acids: DNA and RNA.
A nanolaser is a laser that has nanoscale dimensions and it refers to a micro-/nano- device which can emit light with light or electric excitation of nanowires or other nanomaterials that serve as resonators. A standard feature of nanolasers includes their light confinement on a scale approaching or suppressing the diffraction limit of light. These tiny lasers can be modulated quickly and, combined with their small footprint, this makes them ideal candidates for on-chip optical computing.
A plasmonic-enhanced solar cell, commonly referred to simply as plasmonic solar cell, is a type of solar cell that converts light into electricity with the assistance of plasmons, but where the photovoltaic effect occurs in another material.
A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) is a type of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based on the ring-down technique. It is used in interfacial acoustic sensing. Its most common application is the determination of a film thickness in a liquid environment. It can be used to investigate further properties of the sample, most notably the layer's softness.
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are electromagnetic waves that travel along a metal–dielectric or metal–air interface, practically in the infrared or visible-frequency. The term "surface plasmon polariton" explains that the wave involves both charge motion in the metal and electromagnetic waves in the air or dielectric ("polariton").
A plasmonic metamaterial is a metamaterial that uses surface plasmons to achieve optical properties not seen in nature. Plasmons are produced from the interaction of light with metal-dielectric materials. Under specific conditions, the incident light couples with the surface plasmons to create self-sustaining, propagating electromagnetic waves known as surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs). Once launched, the SPPs ripple along the metal-dielectric interface. Compared with the incident light, the SPPs can be much shorter in wavelength.
A localized surface plasmon (LSP) is the result of the confinement of a surface plasmon in a nanoparticle of size comparable to or smaller than the wavelength of light used to excite the plasmon. When a small spherical metallic nanoparticle is irradiated by light, the oscillating electric field causes the conduction electrons to oscillate coherently. When the electron cloud is displaced relative to its original position, a restoring force arises from Coulombic attraction between electrons and nuclei. This force causes the electron cloud to oscillate. The oscillation frequency is determined by the density of electrons, the effective electron mass, and the size and shape of the charge distribution. The LSP has two important effects: electric fields near the particle's surface are greatly enhanced and the particle's optical absorption has a maximum at the plasmon resonant frequency. Surface plasmon resonance can also be tuned based on the shape of the nanoparticle. The plasmon frequency can be related to the metal dielectric constant. The enhancement falls off quickly with distance from the surface and, for noble metal nanoparticles, the resonance occurs at visible wavelengths. Localized surface plasmon resonance creates brilliant colors in metal colloidal solutions.
Potential graphene applications include lightweight, thin, and flexible electric/photonics circuits, solar cells, and various medical, chemical and industrial processes enhanced or enabled by the use of new graphene materials.
Surface plasmon resonance microscopy (SPRM), also called surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI), is a label free analytical tool that combines the surface plasmon resonance of metallic surfaces with imaging of the metallic surface. The heterogeneity of the refractive index of the metallic surface imparts high contrast images, caused by the shift in the resonance angle. SPRM can achieve a sub-nanometer thickness sensitivity and lateral resolution achieves values of micrometer scale. SPRM is used to characterize surfaces such as self-assembled monolayers, multilayer films, metal nanoparticles, oligonucleotide arrays, and binding and reduction reactions. Surface plasmon polaritons are surface electromagnetic waves coupled to oscillating free electrons of a metallic surface that propagate along a metal/dielectric interface. Since polaritons are highly sensitive to small changes in the refractive index of the metallic material, it can be used as a biosensing tool that does not require labeling. SPRM measurements can be made in real-time, such as measuring binding kinetics of membrane proteins in single cells, or dna hybridization.
Graphene is a 2D nanosheet with atomic thin thickness in terms of 0.34 nm. Due to the ultrathin thickness, graphene showed many properties that are quite different from their bulk graphite counterparts. The most prominent advantages are known to be their high electron mobility and high mechanical strengths. Thus, it exhibits potential for applications in optics and electronics especially for the development of wearable devices as flexible substrates. More importantly, the optical absorption rate of graphene is 2.3% in the visible and near-infrared region. This broadband absorption characteristic also attracted great attention of the research community to exploit the graphene-based photodetectors/modulators.
Single colour reflectometry (SCORE), formerly known as imaging Reflectometric Interferometry (iRIf) and 1-lambda Reflectometry, is a physical method based on interference of monochromatic light at thin films, which is used to investigate (bio-)molecular interactions. The obtained binding curves using SCORE provide detailed information on kinetics and thermodynamics of the observed interaction(s) as well as on concentrations of the used analytes. These data can be relevant for pharmaceutical screening and drug design, biosensors and other biomedical applications, diagnostics, and cell-based assays.