SPR-Based Sensor for Colorectal Cancer Detection using Al –Cu and Graphene

AbstractIn this article, a surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based refractive index sensor is proposed for the detection of colorectal cancer (CRC). The prism-based configuration has been employed to excite the surface plasmons (SPs). The structure of the proposed sensor consists of an Al –Cu bimetallic layer on the BK7 prism. To ensure contact between the metallic layer and the prism, an adhesive layer of TiO2 is used. Graphene layer is used above the bimetallic layer to improve its stability. In order to detect CRC, the healthy and infected tissues are utilized as the analyte media. The numerical simulations of the sensor have been performed using the transfer matrix method. The sensitivity, quality factor, and figure of merit (FOM) are the parameters that determine the performance of the proposed sensor, where FOM includes full width at half maxima (FWHM) and dip strength of the SPR curve. The number of graphene layers and thicknesses of the Al, Cu, and TiO2 layers have been optimized to achieve better performance of the sensor. The effect of incident angle on the performance of the sensor has also been studied. It has been found that a smaller incident angle gives better performance. The maximum value of the sensitivity, quality factor, and FOM obtained are 13,842.1  nm/RIU, 410.95 RIU−1, and 0.92, respectively. The proposed sensor would be a promising candidate for biosensing and medical diagnostics.
Source: Plasmonics - Category: Biomedical Science Source Type: research