• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.05a
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• pp.297-298
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.126-126
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• 2014

Label-free biomolecular assay based localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of noble metal nanoparticles enables simple and rapid detection with the use of simple equipment. Nanosized metal nanoparticles exhibit a strong absorption band when the incident light frequency is resonant with the collective oscillation of the electrons, which is known as the LSPR. Here we demonstrate localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) substrates such as plasmonic Au nanodisks fabricated by a nanoimprinting process and gold nanorod-immobilized surfaces and their applications to highly sensitive and/or label-free biosensing. To increase detection sensitivity various bioreceptors weree designed. A single chain variable fragment (scFv) was used as a receptor to bind C-reactive protein (CRP). The results of this effort showed that CRP in human serum could be quantitatively detected lower than 1 ng/ml. Aptamers, which were immobilized on gold nanorods, were used to detect mycotoxins. The specific binding of ochratoxin A (OTA) to the aptamer was monitored by the longitudinal wavelength shift of LSPR peak in the UV-Vis spectra resulting from the changes of local refractive index near the GNR surface induced by accumulation of OTA and G-quadruplex structure formation of the aptamer. According to our results, OTA could be quantitatively detected lower than 1 nM level. Additionally, aptamer-functionalized GNR substrate was quite robust and can be regenerated many times by rinsing at 70 OC to remove bound target. During seven times of washing steps, the developed OTA sensing system could be reusable. Moreover, the proposed biosensor exhibited selectivity over other mycotoxins with an excellent recovery for detection in grinded corn samples, suggesting that the proposed LSPR based aptasensor plays an important role in label-free detection of mycotoxins.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2012

In this report, we demonstrate that the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance mode can be suppressed when the nanorods were in dumbbell shape. The seed nanorods were synthesized by electrochemical deposition of metals into the pores of anodic aluminum oxide templates. The dumbbell-like nanorods were grown from seed Au-Ni-Au nanorods by a rate-controlled seed-mediated growth strategy. The selective deposition of Au atoms onto Au blocks of Au-Ni-Au nanorods produced larger diameter of Au nanorods with bumpy surface resulting in dumbbell-like nanorods. The morphology of nanorods depended on the reduction rate of $AuCl_4^-$, slow rate producing smooth surface of Au nanorods, but high reduction rate producing bumpy surface morphology. Through systematic investigation into the UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, we found that the multiple localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) modes were available from single-component Au nanorods. And, their LSPR modes of Au NRs with bumpy surface, compared to the smooth seed Au NRs, were red-shifted, which was obviously attributed to the increased electron oscillation pathways. While the longitudinal LSPR modes of smoothly grown Au NRs were blue-shifted except for a dipole transverse LSPR mode, which can be interpreted by decreased aspect ratio. In addition, dumbbell-like nanorods showed an almost disappeared longitudinal LSPR mode. It reflects that the plasmonic properties can be engineered using complex nanorods structure.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2011

LSPR(Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance) sensor measures the refractive index change on the sensor surface. The detection of biological reaction with the unknown refractive index needs to be converted into the signal sensitivity for the refractive index change for comparison with other measurements. To find the signal sensitivity, the three steps of signal processing are proposed, which are signal modeling, signal calibration and signal normalization of LSPR sensor. The detected signal of biotin-streptavidin interaction has been converted into unit of [RU](Resonance Unit) using the proposed method. The converted signal directly can be compared with the other sensors including commercialized one.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.276-276
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• 2010

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has been explored recently as a promising approach to increase energy conversion efficiency in photovoltaic devices, particularly for thin film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells. The LSPR is frequently excited via an electromagnetic (EM) radiation in proximate metallic nanostructures and its primary con sequences are selective photon extinction and local EM enhancement which gives rise to improved photogeneration of electron-hole (e-h) pairs, and consequently increases photocurrent. In this work, high-dielectric-constant (k) $ZrO_2$ (refractive index n=2.22, dielectric constant $\varepsilon=4.93$ at the wavelength of 550 nm) is proposed as spacing layer to enhance the LSPR for application to the thin film silicon solar cells. Compared to excitation of the LSPR using $SiO_2$ (n=1.46, $\varepsilon=2.13$ at the wavelength of 546.1 nm) spacing layer with Au nanoparticles of the radius of 45nm, that using $ZrO_2$ dielectric shows the advantages of(i) ~2.5 times greater polarizability, (ii) ~3.5 times larger scattering cross-section and ~1.5 times larger absorption cross-section, (iii) 4.5% higher transmission coefficient of the same thickness and (iv) 7.8% greater transmitted electric filed intensity at the same depth. All those results are calculated by Mie theory and Fresnel equations, and simulated by finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations with proper boundary conditions. Red-shifting of the LSPR wavelength using high-k $ZrO_2$ dielectric is also observed according to location of the peak and this is consistent with the other's report. Finally, our experimental results show that variation of short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of the LSPR enhanced a-Si:H solar cell by using the $ZrO_2$ spacing layer is 45.4% higher than that using the $SiO_2$ spacing layer, supporting our calculation and theory.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

In the past decade, we have observed rapid advances in the development of biochips in many fields including medical and environmental monitoring. Biochip experiments involve immobilizing a ligand on a solid substrate surface, and monitoring its interaction with an analyte in a sample solution. Metal nanoparticles can display extinction bands on their surfaces. These charge density oscillations are simply known as the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The high sensitivity of LSPR has been utilized to design biochips for the label-free detection of biomolecular interactions with various ligands. LSPR-based optical biochips and biosensors are easy to fabricate, and the apparatus cost for the evaluation of optical characteristics is lower than that for the conventional surface plasmon resonance apparatus. Furthermore, the operation procedure has become more convenient as it does not require labeling procedure. In this paper, we review the recent advances in LSPR research and also describe the LSPR-based optical biosensor constructed with a core-shell dielectric nanoparticle biochip for its application to label-free biomolecular detections such as antigen-antibody interaction.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.417-421
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• 2016

We improve the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) by preparing a working electrode (WE) with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) by inducing Au thin films with thickness of 0.0 to 5.0 nm, deposited via sputtering. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of the blocking layer (BL) of the Au thin films. Micro-Raman measurement was employed to confirm the LSPR effect, and a solar simulator and potentiostat were used to evaluate the photovoltaic properties, including the impedance and the I-V of the DSSC of the Au thin films. The results of the microstructural analysis confirmed that nano-sized Au agglomerates were present at certain thicknesses. The photovoltaic results show that the ECE reached a value of 5.34% with a 1-nm thick-Au thin film compared to the value of 5.15 % without the Au thin film. This improvement was a result of the increase in the LSPR of the $TiO_2$ layer that resulted from the Au thin film coating. Our results imply that the ECE of a DSSC may be improved by coating with a proper thickness of Au thin film on the BL.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.46-51
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• 2013

This study reports a fiber-optic sensor detecting biomolecule by simultaneously monitoring localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) from gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) of ca. $50{\pm}5$ nm attached on one end of optical fiber and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of the reporter molecules adsorbed on the gold surfaces as an additional sensing tool. The sensor was fabricated by immobilizing Au NPs on one end of an optical fiber by chemical reaction. LSPR and SERS signals of the sensor were measured using various refractive indices solutions. Finally, the sensor was applied to observe real-time LSPR sensor-gram and SERS spectra of the reporter molecule of 4-aminothiphenol during the antibody-antigen reaction of interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) as a proof-concept experiment of biological applications.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2017

In this research, we designed an LSPR sensor based on a thin-film multilayer comprising $TiO_2$ and $SiO_2$. The thickness of the overall substrate layer of the suggested multilayer LSPR sensor is limited to 100 nm, and the number of repeating $TiO_2$ and $SiO_2$ thin films is 1-4 within a limited thickness. Additionally, a nanowire structure with a gold thin film of 40 nm, height of 40 nm, period of 600 nm, and line width of 300 nm was formed on the multilayer. To design the variable wavelength-type SPR, the angle was fixed at $75^{\circ}$ and the wavelength was changed. We then simulated the system with the finite-element method (FEM) using Maxwell's equations. It was confirmed that the resonance wavelength became shorter as the number of multilayers increased when the refractive index was fixed. We found that the wavelength changes were more sensitive. However, no changes were observed when the number of the multilayers was three or higher.

• Vacuum Magazine
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.12-15
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• 2017

Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is considered as one of promising medical and diagnostic technologies. The SERS effect is caused by the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) from metal nanoparticles with narrow hot spots. The mechanism of LSPR, development of nanostructure fabrication, and corresponding researches are discussed. The flexible, label-free, low-cost, and highly-sensitive Au/ZnONRs/G is introduced. The Au/ZnONRs/G detects and distinguishes cataract, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic macular edema from aqueous humor. Comprehension of SERS provides further improvement in bio sensing technology including early diagnosis and prolonged life expectancy.realize highly stretchable electrodes.