Silver nanoplates paved PMMA cuvettes as a cheap and re-usable plasmonic sensing device

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors find wide applications due to their prompt responses and because they do not need sophisticated instrumentation. One of the most explored effects is the high sensitivity of the plasmon band position due to refractive index changes in the medium. In the following, we present a cost-effective, reusable, and high-responsive SPR device based on silver nanoplate paved PMMA cuvettes. The nanostructures were obtained by the seed-growing approach. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) features, observed in the colloidal state, were successfully transferred to the paved cuvettes and their plasmon sensitivities with liquids of different refractive index were recorded. We observed refractive index sensitivities up to 280 nm/refractive index units, using nanoplates with plasmon resonances in the near-infrared region. The experimental results find correspondence and agreement with extinction cross-section calculated with a Boundary Element Method (BEM) approach. This work addresses how to build a simple, cost-effective optical device, which is suitable for integration and miniaturization.