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Biomolecular sensing using gold nanoparticle–coated ZnO nanotetrapods

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Abstract

Gold nanoparticle–coated ZnO tetrapods have been utilized as a substrate for the detection of fluorescently labeled protein tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate bovine serum albumin and phospholipid 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-(Lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl) down to the concentrations of 15 pM and 79 nM, respectively. Our detection scheme is based on enhanced fluorescence excitation of the biomolecular analytes by the surface plasmon polaritons of gold nanoparticles coated on the ZnO tetrapod whiskers. This enhanced excitation is confirmed using COMSOL Multiphysics, where the optical near field is shown to be dependent on the coating density of the gold nanoparticles and branching of the ZnO nanostructures.

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Acknowledgment

This research was sponsored by NSF CAREER Award No. CBET-0744040 and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Grant No. R834092 to P.C. Ke. The authors thank Dr. Thompson Mefford and Dr. Terry Tritt for the use of the zeta potential device and the gold sputtering system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Optical Material Science and Engineering Technologies, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, USA

    Ramakrishna Podila, Jason Reppert, Apparao M. Rao & Pu Chun Ke

  2. Laboratory of Single-Molecule Biophysics and Polymer Physics, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, USA

    Pengyu Chen & Pu Chun Ke

Authors
  1. Ramakrishna Podila
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  2. Pengyu Chen
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  3. Jason Reppert
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  4. Apparao M. Rao
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  5. Pu Chun Ke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Apparao M. Rao.

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Podila, R., Chen, P., Reppert, J. et al. Biomolecular sensing using gold nanoparticle–coated ZnO nanotetrapods. Journal of Materials Research 26, 2328–2333 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.147

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.147

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