Large‐Area Fabrication of Periodic Arrays of Nanoholes in Metal Films and Their Application in Biosensing and Plasmonic‐Enhanced Photovoltaics

Plasmonics is a fast developing research area with a great potential for practical applications. However, the implementation of plasmonic devices requires low cost methodologies for the fabrication of organized metallic nanostructures that covers a relative large area (~1 cm 2 ). Here the patterning of periodic arrays of nanoholes (PANHs) in gold films by using a combination of interference lithography, metal deposition, and lift off is reported. The setup allows the fabrication of periodic nanostructures with hole diameters ranging from 110 to 1000 nm, for 450 and 1800 nm of periodicity, respectively. The large areas plasmonic substrates consist of 2 cm x 2 cm gold films homogeneously covered by nanoholes and gold films patterned with a regular microarray of 200 μm diameter circular patches of PANHs. The microarray format is used for surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging and its potential for applications in multiplex biosensing is demonstrated. The gold films homogeneously covered by nanoholes are useful as electrodes in a thin layer organic photovoltaic. This is first example of a large area plasmonic solar cell with organized nanostructures. The fabrication approach reported here is a good candidate for the industrial-scale production of metallic substrates for plasmonic applications in photovoltaics and biosensing.

[1]  Mathieu Foquet,et al.  Improved fabrication of zero-mode waveguides for single-molecule detection , 2008 .

[2]  J. Rogers,et al.  Quantitative multispectral biosensing and 1D imaging using quasi-3D plasmonic crystals , 2006, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[3]  Gibum Kim,et al.  SPR microscopy and its applications to high-throughput analyses of biomolecular binding events and their kinetics. , 2007, Biomaterials.

[4]  W. Barnes,et al.  Surface plasmon subwavelength optics , 2003, Nature.

[5]  H. Lezec,et al.  Extraordinary optical transmission through sub-wavelength hole arrays , 1998, Nature.

[6]  Carl Hägglund,et al.  Enhanced charge carrier generation in dye sensitized solar cells by nanoparticle plasmons , 2008 .

[7]  J. W. Menezes,et al.  Recording different geometries of 2D hexagonal photonic crystals by choosing the phase between two-beam interference exposures. , 2006, Optics express.

[8]  Yoon-Chae Nah,et al.  Plasmon enhanced performance of organic solar cells using electrodeposited Ag nanoparticles , 2008 .

[9]  Teri W Odom,et al.  Multiscale patterning of plasmonic metamaterials. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[10]  Sang-Hyun Oh,et al.  Plasmonic nanocavity arrays for enhanced efficiency in organic photovoltaic cells , 2008, LEOS 2008 - 21st Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society.

[11]  Nemanya Sedoglavich,et al.  Gold nanohole array substrates as immunobiosensors. , 2008, Analytical chemistry.

[12]  W. A. Murray,et al.  Transition from localized surface plasmon resonance to extended surface plasmon-polariton as metallic nanoparticles merge to form a periodic hole array , 2004 .

[13]  Y. Shon,et al.  Preparation of Nanostructured Film Arrays for Transmission Localized Surface Plasmon Sensing , 2009 .

[14]  J. W. Menezes,et al.  Refractive index effect in the lattice geometry of photonic crystals generated by multi-exposure interference patterns , 2009 .

[15]  Temperature dependent characteristics of poly(3 hexylthiophene)-fullerene based heterojunction organic solar cells , 2003 .

[16]  K. Kavanagh,et al.  A new generation of sensors based on extraordinary optical transmission. , 2008, Accounts of chemical research.

[17]  Yang Yang,et al.  High-efficiency solution processable polymer photovoltaic cells by self-organization of polymer blends , 2005 .

[18]  Sang‐Hyun Oh,et al.  Ultrasmooth Patterned Metals for Plasmonics and Metamaterials , 2009, Science.

[19]  D. Sinton,et al.  On-chip surface-based detection with nanohole arrays. , 2007, Analytical chemistry.

[20]  Chung Yin Kwong,et al.  Poly(3-hexylthiophene):TiO2 nanocomposites for solar cell applications , 2004 .

[21]  Xiong Gong,et al.  Thermally Stable, Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Nanoscale Control of the Interpenetrating Network Morphology , 2005 .

[22]  S. Aștilean,et al.  Extending nanosphere lithography for the fabrication of periodic arrays of subwavelength metallic nanoholes , 2009 .

[23]  H. Hillhouse,et al.  Solar cells from colloidal nanocrystals: Fundamentals, materials, devices, and economics , 2009 .

[24]  J. W. Menezes,et al.  Band gap of hexagonal 2D photonic crystals with elliptical holes recorded by interference lithography. , 2006, Optics express.

[25]  Donal D. C. Bradley,et al.  A strong regioregularity effect in self-organizing conjugated polymer films and high-efficiency polythiophene:fullerene solar cells , 2006 .

[26]  T. Ebbesen,et al.  Light in tiny holes , 2007, Nature.

[27]  David Sinton,et al.  Attomolar protein detection using in-hole surface plasmon resonance. , 2009, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[28]  D. Larson,et al.  High-throughput nanohole array based system to monitor multiple binding events in real time. , 2008, Analytical chemistry.

[29]  Hyungsoon Im,et al.  Laser-illuminated nanohole arrays for multiplex plasmonic microarray sensing. , 2008, Optics express.

[30]  Takayuki Kuwabara,et al.  Highly durable inverted-type organic solar cell using amorphous titanium oxide as electron collection electrode inserted between ITO and organic layer , 2008 .

[31]  Y. Fainman,et al.  High-resolution surface plasmon resonance sensor based on linewidth-optimized nanohole array transmittance. , 2006, Optics letters.

[32]  D. Ginger,et al.  A direct-write single-step positive etch resist for dip-pen nanolithography. , 2007, Small.

[33]  J. V. Coe,et al.  Extraordinary transmission of metal films with arrays of subwavelength holes. , 2008, Annual review of physical chemistry.

[34]  D. Sinton,et al.  Nanohole arrays in metal films as optofluidic elements: progress and potential , 2008 .

[35]  Carl Hägglund,et al.  Nanoscience and nanotechnology for advanced energy systems , 2006 .

[36]  Jeunghoon Lee,et al.  Nanofabrication of plasmonic structures. , 2009, Annual review of physical chemistry.

[37]  David L. Carroll,et al.  High-efficiency photovoltaic devices based on annealed poly(3-hexylthiophene) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)-propyl-1- phenyl-(6,6)C61 blends , 2005 .

[38]  H. Atwater,et al.  Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices. , 2010, Nature materials.

[39]  R. Corn,et al.  Surface plasmon resonance imaging measurements of ultrathin organic films. , 2003, Annual review of physical chemistry.

[40]  K. Kavanagh,et al.  Surface plasmon sensor based on the enhanced light transmission through arrays of nanoholes in gold films. , 2004, Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids.

[41]  Sang‐Hyun Oh,et al.  Sub-micron resolution surface plasmon resonance imaging enabled by nanohole arrays with surrounding Bragg mirrors for enhanced sensitivity and isolation. , 2009, Lab on a chip.

[42]  Hyungsoon Im,et al.  Plasmonic nanoholes in a multichannel microarray format for parallel kinetic assays and differential sensing. , 2009, Analytical chemistry.

[43]  Thomas H. Reilly,et al.  Surface-plasmon enhanced transparent electrodes in organic photovoltaics , 2008 .

[44]  J. Hogle,et al.  Metallic nanohole arrays on fluoropolymer substrates as small label-free real-time bioprobes. , 2008, Nano letters.

[45]  Edmond Cambril,et al.  Gold nanohole arrays for biochemical sensing fabricated by soft UV nanoimprint lithography , 2009 .