PDMS-based Optical Leaky Waveguide Coated with Self-assemble Au-NPs for Bio-analytical Detections

This paper presents a novel method for fabricating PDMS-based optical leaky waveguides coated with self-assembled gold nano-particles (Au-NP) for bio-analytical detection utilizing the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. In the presented method, a PDMS optical waveguide is first cast in Teflon tubing to form a cylindrical leaky waveguide structure. The de-molded PDMS optical waveguide is then modified with PDDA molecules and coated with a layer of 13 nm Au-NPs for inducing the LSPR effect. The fabricated LSPR sensor is finally connected to multi-mode optic fibers for guiding the detection light. The measured sensitivity of the PDMS waveguide based LSPR sensor for detecting diluted glycerol solutions was 7.25 AU/RIU and 325.97 nm/RIU. Experimental results of a label-free detection of DNA hybridization show that the presented PDMS waveguide based LSPR sensor has a good linear response and has a detection limit of about 10pM, confirming the detection performance of the developed PDMS waveguide-based LSPR sensor.