Optical fibers equipped with plasmonic flow sensors at their tips are fabricated and investigated as photothermomechanical nanopumps for the active transport of target analytes to the sensor surface. The nanopumps are prepared using a bottom-up strategy: i.e., by sequentially stacking a monolayer of a thermoresponsive polymer and a plasmonic nanohole array on an optical fiber tip. The temperature-dependent collapse and swelling of the polymer is used to create a flow-through pumping mechanism. The heat required for pumping is generated by exploiting the photothermal effect in the plasmonic nanohole array upon irradiation with laser light (405 nm). Simultaneous detection of analytes by the plasmonic sensor is achieved by monitoring changes in its optical response at longer wavelengths (∼500-800 nm). Active mass transport by pumping through the holes of the plasmonic nanohole array is visualized by particle imaging velocimetry. Finally, the performance of the photothermomechanical nanopumps is investigated for two types of analytes, namely nanoscale objects (gold nanoparticles) and molecules (11-mercaptoundecanoic acid). In the presence of the pumping mechanism, a 4-fold increase in sensitivity was observed compared to the purely photothermal effect, demonstrating the potential of the presented photothermomechanical nanopumps for sensing applications.
Keywords: flow-through sensing; nanohole array; optical fiber sensor; photothermal effect; self-assembly; surface plasmon resonance; thermoresponsive polymer.