Sensors (Aug 2024)

The Tunable Parameters of Graphene-Based Biosensors

  • Talia Tene,
  • Jiří Svozilík,
  • Dennys Colcha,
  • Yesenia Cevallos,
  • Paola Gabriela Vinueza-Naranjo,
  • Cristian Vacacela Gomez,
  • Stefano Bellucci

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s24155049
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 24, no. 15
p. 5049

Abstract

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Graphene-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors have emerged as a promising technology for the highly sensitive and accurate detection of biomolecules. This study presents a comprehensive theoretical analysis of graphene-based SPR biosensors, focusing on configurations with single and bimetallic metallic layers. In this study, we investigated the impact of various metallic substrates, including gold and silver, and the number of graphene layers on key performance metrics: sensitivity of detection, detection accuracy, and quality factor. Our findings reveal that configurations with graphene first supported on gold exhibit superior performance, with sensitivity of detection enhancements up to 30% for ten graphene layers. In contrast, silver-supported configurations, while demonstrating high sensitivity, face challenges in maintaining detection accuracy. Additionally, reducing the thickness of metallic layers by 30% optimizes light coupling and enhances sensor performance. These insights highlight the significant potential of graphene-based SPR biosensors in achieving high sensitivity of detection and reliability, paving the way for their application in diverse biosensing technologies. Our findings pretend to motivate future research focusing on optimizing metallic layer thickness, improving the stability of silver-supported configurations, and experimentally validating the theoretical findings to further advance the development of high-performance SPR biosensors.

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