Investigation on an application of silver substrates for sensitive surface plasmon resonance imaging detection.

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging biosensor based on silver substrates was investigated to demonstrate that silver could be used as a substrate material for sensitive detection of biomolecular interactions, despite its poor chemical stability. The calculation results showed that oxidation of silver film may lead to a decrease in the sensitivity due to a variation in SPR characteristics such as a broader curve width and shallower minimum reflectance at resonance. The effect of a change in the refractive index of target analytes on the sensitivity was also explored. In particular, it is noteworthy that Ag/Au bimetallic substrates with a thin gold protection layer to prevent oxidation of a silver film can provide a significant amplification of SPR imaging signals in comparison with conventional gold substrates.