Metal Nanoparticles on Board of Low-Cost Devices for Optical Sensing

Nowadays nanomaterials (NMs) have become consolidated building blocks for (bio)sensors and (bio)sensing strategies development. In this contest, the metal nanoparticles (MNPs) offer infinite opportunities since their nano-domain provides unique chemical, physical, electrical, and optical features; the most captivating MNPs’ property is the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which allows them to interact with the electromagnetic radiation, giving rise to typical absorption spectra and naked eye visible colors. Taking advantage of the aforementioned features MNPs have been extensively exploited in the development of optical and colorimetric point-of-need devices. Herein, device equipped with plasmonic-active thin films of MNPs (gold/Au and silver/Ag nanoparticles/NPs) are presented, suitable for opto-analytical applications. The nanoarchitecture fabrication has been achieved onto ELISA plates. The nano-film was tested as a plasmonic transducer in ELISA plate to evaluate the oxidants capacity of sodium hypochlorite, sodium nitrite, ABTS, H2O2, AAPH, DPPH, and ferrous sulfate which are of biological and biochemical interests. Further, life-time studies of the proposed nanoarchitecture were carefully performed with the aim to evaluate the storability of the nano-equipped ELISA plates.