Direct spray deposition of silver nanoparticle films for biosensing applications

Abstract

We demonstrate the use of a self reducing silver complex as a precursor for the low cost, rapid deposition of silver nanoparticle films which display the metal enhanced fluorescence phenomenon. The morphology and optical properties are examined by AFM and UV-vis spectroscopy. The potential application of this approach is demonstrated by using the films as substrates for a fluorescence based model human IgG sandwich immunoassay, using both conventional benchtop PMT based detection and low cost CCD camera detection.