Development of evanescent wave absorbance-based fibre-optic biosensor

Abstract

Development of chemical and biochemical sensors is the current need of the society. In this report, we present our investigation on the development of a label-free fibre-optic biosensor based on evanescent wave absorbance to detect the presence of analytes such as bacteria, virus and some clinically important proteins. A simple UV-LED (280 nm) and photodetector combination along with a fibre probe was used for developing cost-effective, user-friendly and field applicable device. To improve the sensitivity of the detection technique, the probe design was modified and the U-bent probe was fabricated by simple procedure. Further, to overcome the problems for using UV light source in the fibre, the localized surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles at visible wavelength was exploited as a sensing medium for the biochemical reactions. Our systematic studies in this regard presented in this communication may bring the excitement for developing the waterborne pathogen detection device for house-hold as well as field applications.