The Development of Point-of-Care Plasmonic-based Biosensor For Early Detection of the COVID-19 Virus

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.