Abstract:
The current impact of COVID-19 on global health and the economy is enormous. Considering the
pandemic severity, there is an urgent need to develop a smart biosensor that can provide early
detection of SAR-CoV-2 viruses with robust and reliable results. In this work, we have
systematically developed a plasmonic-based biosensor chip for the early detection of the COVID19 virus by providing fast and reliable results while optimizing it to a Point-of-Care (PoC) medical
diagnostic device, i.e., in the vicinity of patients without visiting health centers or outpatient
treatment locations. The label-free plasmonic sensor utilizes light and detects the resonance
oscillation of surface-bound free conduction electrons in the target analyte biomarker (virus)
presence, resulting in binding and affinity incidents at the surface of plasmonic gold (Au) material,
causing a shift in the resonance wavelength. The results show the ability of the biosensor to exhibit
an increased shift in the resonance wavelength upon binding of the COVID-19 virus because of
the change in the optical property, i.e., the refractive index of the medium in the vicinity of the Au
film. This study further demonstrated the fabrication and performance optimization of the
plasmonic biosensor for the potential PoC testing device.
