Stimuli-responsive polymer responds to the temperature and pH changes by undergoing a phase transition by shrinking and swelling of the conformational state. The reversible phase transition of these kinds of polymers makes them important candidates for different applications such as sensors, bioaffinity, and tissue engineering. When a stimuli-responsive polymer attaches to the Nobel metal nanoparticle's surface, it controls the sensitivities of the metal nanostructures by influencing the local dielectric environment of the surrounding. Therefore, an improved plasmonic system with constant and reversible modulation of plasmonic response can be achieved by using stimuli-responsive polymer as a surrounding medium of metal nanoparticles. Herein, we develop ultra sensitive plasmonic nanosensors based on chemically synthesized anisotropic nanostructure; gold nanoprism functionalized with pH and temperature responsive polymers such as poly (allylamine) (PAA), and poly (allylamine hydrochloride)-co-poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PAH-co-PNIPAM). It was found that both plasmonic nanosensors were highly sensitive, stable, and displayed high reversibility. This suggests that the plasmonic nanosensors based on stimuli-responsive polymers could potentially be used as a reversible switch to control the dielectric environment of the gold nanoprisms, and help tune the LSPR optical properties of gold nanoprisms by changing the temperature and pH. The pH responsive plasmonic nanosensor was successfully applied for the detection of glucose in bovine plasma.

Stimuli-responsive polymer-functionalized gold nanoprisms as highly sensitive plasmonic nanosensors

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.