Abstract: Plasmon resonance, the collective oscillation of conduction band electrons, can be excited by shining light on some metallic nanostructures. Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). LSPR-based detection provides a sensitive reporting mechanism of the local refractive index changes due to surface binding. LSPR also provides a “boost” to light matter interactions near the surface of metallic nanostructures, typically known as “surface enhancement” in various spectroscopy. Over the past few decades, numerous studies have led to the current state of knowledge by largely attributing the enhancement to nanostructural “singularities”, e.g., small gaps and sharp protrusions on the order of 10 nm. However, most of these studies relied on advanced lithography or colloidal surface chemistry to produce nanostructural singularities, aka “hot spots”. Lithographic techniques such as focused ion beam is time-consuming and cost-prohibitive for scaling up. Colloidal surface chemistry produces assays that are challenging to translate into a “biochip”.
My group has developed highly porous yet monolithic plasmonic nanostructures that feature intense and high-density hot spots, large surface area, and high structural integrity and reproducibility. We have applied them to several analytical Chem/Biosensing platforms for a range of sensing targets by various spectroscopic and imaging techniques. Overall, nanoplasmonic sensors appear to provide potential solutions in a range of applications from “moonshot” cancer precision medicine to point-of-care diagnostics and wearable technologies.
Biography: Wei-Chuan Shih earned his Ph.D. from MIT. Prior to joining the University of Houston, he was Schlumberger research fellow. Dr. Shih is Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, and Chemistry at the University of Houston. He was a MIT Martin Fellow, and received NSF CAREER Award in Biophotonics, inaugural NASA Early CAREER Faculty Award, UH Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, and UH Cullen College of Engineering Faculty Research Excellence Award. He has published more than 70 articles in books, journals and conference proceedings, including 40+ peer-reviewed journal papers. He has more than 12 patents, one of which has been licensed. His research has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, OPN, PBS, UH Moment and many other media outlets. Besides NSF and NASA, his research is also supported by NIH, DOI, and GoMRI with a past 5-year total of $3.5M. Website: http://nanobiophotonics.ee.uh.edu