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Label-free detection of biomarkers has been recently noticed and optical biosensors showed great potential to be the method of choice in such situation. Here, we used glancing angle deposition (GLAD) method in which silver nano-columns stabilized by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) and 6-mercaptohexanol to investigate the capability of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)–based silver nanochips to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Using different standard solutions of PSA, limit of detection (LOD) of the nano-sensors has been calculated to be 850 pg/ml. The selectivity of the nano-sensors has also been evaluated. We showed that these nano-sensors could detect PSA in clinically acceptable sensitivity and specificity without any complicated laboratory equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glancing angle deposition (GLAD) is an efficient and inexpensive method to fabricate nanostructures with diverse complexities. However, this method has a limitation in fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures with narrow resonance peaks causing that the GLAD-nanostructures have rarely been used for refractive-index sensing. In this work, we proposed two approaches to overcome this limitation of GLAD and to fabricate Ag nanostructures with narrow plasmonic peaks. In the first approach, we introduce an effective method for seeding modification of the substrate and then growing the Ag nanocolumns on such seeded layer. The optical characterization shows that such pre-seeding of the substrate leads to nearly 40% narrowing of the plasmonic peak. In another approach, the nanostructures are grown by GLAD on a bare substrate and then are annealed at 200–400 °C. Such annealing converts the nanostructures to nanodomes with large inter-particle distances and about 60% reduction of their plasmonic width. Also, the annealing of the nanostructures at 400 °C provides a twofold improvement in figure of merit of sensing of the nanostructures. This improvement makes the GLAD comparative to other expensive alternate methods for fabrication of plasmonic sensors. In addition, the experimental plasmonic peaks are reproduced in a proper numerical simulation for similar nanostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We have produced porous Cu nanostructures by glancing angle deposition. • The Cu nanostructures deposited on FTO provide a sensitive glucose sensor. • Impressive electrochemical responses from the electrode were measured. • A high glucose detection sensitivity of 1862 μAcm−2 mM−1 was obtained. • The fabrication method proposes excellent reproducibility and selectivity. In this work, we have proposed a proper method to fabricate porous Cu nanostructured electrodes for non-enzymatic glucose detection. The glancing angle deposition (GLAD) has been used to produce Cu nanostructures on the FTO substrates. To optimize the sensing performance of the electrode, the effects of vapor deposition angle and azimuthal substrate rotation speed have been investigated. As a result, the superior electrocatalitic activity is obtained under the deposition angle of θ = 82° and the substrate rotation speed of φ ̇ = 20 rpm, respectively. By controlling the GLAD deposition parameters, an excellent sensing performance against glucose with a high sensitivity of 1862 μAcm−2 mM−1, a low detection limit of 0.048 μM and two wide linear ranges of detection of 10 μM–2 mM and 2–8 mM have been achieved at the applied potential of 0.5 V. Considering the high selectivity, excellent reproducibility and accurate measuring of the glucose levels in human serums, the proposed Cu-based sensor has a remarkable potential for large-scale production as a non-enzymatic glucometer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Cu-Ag nanostructures are fabricated by combining GLAD and galvanic replacement. • Various morphologies are fabricated by controlling galvanic replacement parameters. • Ag nanoshells deposited on Cu nanocolumns show the best electrocatalytic performance. • Best electrodes have the sensitivity of 3802 μAcm−2 mM−1 and detection limit of 1.33 μM. A scalable and repeatable synthetization method is introduced to fabricate Cu-Ag bimetallic nanostructures as a stable, robust, fast-response and enzyme-free glucose sensor. Cu nanocolumns were constructed on the FTO substrate using the glancing angle deposition (GLAD). Then a thin layer of Ag is deposited on the Cu nanocolumns through a galvanic replacement reaction. The Cu-Ag nanostructures with different morphologies were developed by tuning the concentration and the reaction time of the galvanic replacement process. Various electrochemical characterizations, including cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), were performed to determine the superior electrocatalytic activity of the electrodes. The results reveal that the superior electrocatalytic performance toward glucose oxidation was achieved with Cu-Ag fabricated under the AgNO 3 concentration of 5 mM and with a reaction time of 30 s. The sensor exhibits a fast response of ∼2 s with an excellent sensitivity of 3802 and 712 μAcm−2 mM−1 in two wide linear ranges of 0.01–3 mM and 3–8 mM and an optimum potential of 0.65 V. The proposed Cu-Ag sensor showed considerable enhancement of electrocatalytic activity compared to Cu or Ag monometallic structures due to the synergistic effect. In addition, the current bimetallic sensor regarding its outstanding precision and its reproducibility provides a promising method for large scale fabrication of non-enzymatic glucose sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]