Numerical study of a high-performance SPR sensor using ZNS and fluorinated graphene with consideration of experimental parameters

Abstract

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR)–based sensor, which consists of aluminum (Al) as a plasmonic metal and zinc sulfide (ZnS) as the dielectric layer, has been proposed in a modified Kretschmann configuration. An engineered layer of fluorinated graphene (FG) as a 2D nanomaterial has been included in the proposed configuration for better interaction with the bio-analyte. The proposed sensing device is designed using the transfer matrix and finite element methods for angle interrogation at a wavelength of 1550 nm, considering performance parameters like sensitivity, SPR linewidth, detection accuracy, and figure of merit (FOM). The multilayered engineered plasmonic sensor is found to have a maximum value of sensitivity (242.85°/RIU) and enhanced FOM (451.68 RIU−1). The effect of different glass substrates, plasmonic metals, dielectric materials, and 2D nanomaterials on the performance parameters has been studied. Finally, the engineered plasmonic biosensor {CaF2-Al (30 nm)-ZnS (2 nm)-FG} is used to detect different malaria stages by distinguishing healthy and malaria-infected red blood cells, showing its potential by significant improvement in sensitivity and FOM compared to many of the existing simulation-based SPR designs, indicating a strong potential for high-performance biosensing applications.