Self-Referenced Optical Fiber Sensor for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection based on LSPR of Metallic Nanoparticles in Layer-by-Layer Films

Javier Goicoechea; Pedro J Rivero; Samuel Sada; Francisco J Arregui

doi:10.3390/s19183872

Self-Referenced Optical Fiber Sensor for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection based on LSPR of Metallic Nanoparticles in Layer-by-Layer Films

Sensors (Basel). 2019 Sep 7;19(18):3872. doi: 10.3390/s19183872.

Authors

Javier Goicoechea^{1

2}, Pedro J Rivero^{3

4}, Samuel Sada¹, Francisco J Arregui^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanostructured Optical Devices Laboratory, Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
² Institute of Smart Cities (ISC), Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
³ Engineering Department, Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain. pedrojose.rivero@unavarra.es.
⁴ Institute for Advanced Materials (INAMAT), Public University of Navarre, Campus Arrosadía S/N, 31006 Pamplona, Spain. pedrojose.rivero@unavarra.es.

Abstract

Intensity-based optical fiber sensors are one of the most studied sensor approaches thanks to their simplicity and low cost. Nevertheless, their main issue is their lack of robustness since any light source fluctuation, or unexpected optical setup variation is directly transferred to the output signal, which, significantly reduces their reliability. In this work, a simple and robust hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) optical fiber sensor is proposed based on the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) sensitivity of silver and gold metallic nanoparticles. The precise and robust detection of H₂O₂ concentrations in the ppm range is very interesting for the scientific community, as it is a pathological precursor in a wide variety of damage mechanisms where its presence can be used to diagnose important diseases such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, asthma, or even Alzheimer's disease). In this work, the sensing principle is based the oxidation of the silver nanoparticles due the action of the hydrogen peroxide, and consequently the reduction of the efficiency of the plasmonic coupling. At the same time, gold nanoparticles show a high chemical stability, and therefore provide a stable LSPR absorption band. This provides a stable real-time reference that can be extracted from the spectral response of the optical fiber sensor, giving a reliable reading of the hydrogen peroxide concentration.

Keywords: Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR); gold nanoparticles; hydrogen peroxide detection; optical fiber sensor; self-referenced sensor; silver nanoparticles.