Sensitivity calculation for different prism material based surface plasmon resonance sensor: A comparative study

Abstract

In this theoretical work, the sensitivity of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is studied in the presence alcoholic sensing medium. Here sensing medium is taken as alcohol at different concentrations i.e. 0%, 20%, 50%, 80% and 100%. The sensitivity is computed for the different SPR configurations in which five prism materials and three noble metals are considered. The performance of each configuration is comparatively analysed in terms of sensitivity. It is found that the BK7 material-based SPR sensor shows a high sensitivity value in comparison to other prism materials for all active noble metals (Au, Ag, and Cu). In addition to that sensitivity increases with respect to the alcohol concentration but its value decreases when concentration is more than 80%. This study may drive the new researchers to develop high sensitive SPR sensors for diverse applications.