Sensor Response of Silver Based Plasmonic Nanoparticles Deposited on PS/P2VP Composite

Abstract

The Localized surface plasmon property (LSPR) of nanoparticles has multidisciplinary applications in chemistry, biology and materials science. Silver being highly conductive and thermally stable is considered best for making nanoparticles and these nanoparticles have exceptional plasmonic properties. However, silver nanoparticles are unstable and tend to agglomerate in a porous medium. This problem can be addressed by encapsulating these nanoparticles in polymer matrices. The size and distribution of nanoparticles in the matrices is affected by the nature of polymer composite embedded with silver nanoparticles. This embedding improves optical properties of silver nanoparticles making it useful for sensing devices. In this paper, Silver nanoparticles of thickness 100, 150 and 200 nm deposited on (PS/P2VP) (50:50) were explored through simulation software to observe the optical sensitivity. The data obtained in a separate experimental study of deposition of silver nanoparticles on polymer composites is used in the nanosensor software to study the sensing capacity. The polymer system used was obtained by blending of two polymers namely, polystyrene/poly (2-vinylpyridine) (PS/P2VP) (50:50) with the optimization technique in a separate experiment study. The polymer composites utilized were found to have uniform distribution of nanoparticles of various sizes. We observed that the size of the nanoparticle embedded into a particular polymer composite is the decisive factor for the sensing capability.