Nanosensors sensitivity based on localized surface plasmons created in bimetallic nanoshells

Abstract

Due to the increasing importance of nanosensors in the early diagnosis of diseases, the need for high-performance nanosensors is one of the goals of researchers. In this paper, a structure consisting of plasmonic nanoshells with spherical and ellipsoidal geometry has been proposed to calculate the refractive index (RI) changes in the range of 1-3. The sensitivity of the proposed nanosensor has been computed, and the effective factors on the performance of the nanosensor, including geometry, material, core dimensions, shell thickness, and RI of the surrounding environment are studied. To this end, various nanostructures have been modeled using the boundary element method. It has been shown that ellipsoidal nanoshells are more sensitive to RI changes than spherical nanoshells. Also, the results show that nanoshells with a core and shell made of plasmonic metals (bimetallic nanoshell) can exponentially increase the sensitivity of the nanosensor.