Fabrication of localized surface plasmon resonance sensors with scalable polyvinyltetrazole/copper cluster hybrid ring-array for Cu(II) detection

Jem-Kun Chen; Xiang-Yun Zeng; Chih-Chia Cheng; Chih-Wei Chen

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124282

Fabrication of localized surface plasmon resonance sensors with scalable polyvinyltetrazole/copper cluster hybrid ring-array for Cu(II) detection

Talanta. 2023 May 1:256:124282. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124282. Epub 2023 Jan 20.

Authors

Jem-Kun Chen¹, Xiang-Yun Zeng¹, Chih-Chia Cheng², Chih-Wei Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials and Science Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 43, Sec. 4, Keelung Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan, ROC.
² Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Advanced Membrane Materials Research Center, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, 106, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Department of Occupational Safety and Health/Institute of Industrial Safety and Disaster Prevention, College of Sustainable Environment, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, 717, Taiwan, ROC; Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, 710, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: awei921@gmail.com.

PMID: 36682122
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.124282

Abstract

The bottom of a hole-array photoresist template deposited with a hydrophobic atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator was wetted by treatment with oxygen plasma. After the removal of the photoresist template, ring patterns of the ATRP initiator were formed at the interface between the hydrophobic and wetting regions. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was grafted from the initiator ring array to covert to polyvinyltetrazole (PVT) rings via a cyano-to-tetrazole reaction, which could adsorb Cu(II) at various concentrations. The Cu(II) ions within the PVT rings were reduced to form a PVT-copper hybrid ring (VCHR), resulting in a blue-shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak as the Cu(II) was adsorbed by the PVT rings. The blue-shift and Cu(II) concentration were linearly correlated, with a detection limit of ∼25 pg mL^-1 and a linear range of 25-400 pg mL^-1 for Cu(II) detection. Although the PVT rings also chelated Pb(II) and Cr(III), these ions did not exhibit obvious LSPR peaks. The VCHR LSPR sensor exhibited excellent selectivity for Cu(II) detection. Combining lithography and plasma technology provides a versatile platform for developing the scalable ring structure of copper for highly sensitive and selective Cu(II) sensing.

Keywords: Copper rings; Ion sensors; Polyvinyltetrazole brushes.