Sensitivity Enhancement of MXene Based SPR Sensor Using Silicon: Theoretical Analysis

In this seminal, we proposed a silicon and two-dimensional MXene (Ti3C2Tx) layer-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor. Use of MXene layer facilitates the adsorption of biomolecules due to its larger surface area, stronger light matter interaction and higher binding energies. Silver, silicon thicknesses and the number of MXene layers of proposed SPR have been optimized for the best performance. Sensitivity, detection accuracy, and figure of merit acquired with 50 nm silver, 5 nm silicon film and for monolayer MXene at 633 nm wavelength is 231(omicron)RIU(-1)0.17 Degree(-1)and 39.83 RIU-1. Silicon layer is used between silver and MXene to increase the sensitivity. Proposed SPR sensor with silicon shows sensitivity enhancement of 99.83% and 95.68% over conventional SPR and proposed SPR without silicon respectively. However, highest sensitivity is reached to 349.9(omicron)RIU(-1)for 50 nm silver and 7 nm silicon without any MXene layer.

Automated summary

The proposed biosensor based on silicon and two-dimensional MXene layer showed improved performance in terms of sensitivity and detection accuracy at 633nm wavelength. The addition of silicon layer between silver and MXene significantly enhanced the sensor's sensitivity, with the best results achieved with 50nm silver and 7nm silicon layers without any MXene layer.