The application of the plasmonic nanopaper in the optical-based sensing approaches

Abstract

This study presents novel optical sensors by utilizing bacterial cellulose (BC) as a nano-based platform. The myriads of BC features such as optical transparency, mechanical strength, nanofibers structure, flexibility, and abundant functional groups, make this natural biopolymer a perfect substrate to create a new generation of optical biosensors. Importantly, the coupling of BC with advantageous nanomaterials (e.g., plasmonic nanoparticles and biomolecule) leads to the emergence of multifunctional nanocomposites. On the other hand, BCs embedded with plasmonic nanoparticles (such as Ag and Au), named a plasmonic nanopaper, benefit the outstanding characteristics of both. Hence, the resulted BC impregnated with AgNP or AuNP revealed a plasmonic peak at 470 and 530 nm through the UV-vis absorbance spectra, respectively.