Surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic hydrogen peroxide sensor using polymer embedded nanoparticles

A fiber optic sensor utilizing combination of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) for the detection of hydrogen peroxide has been fabricated and characterized using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) embedded silver nanoparticles over the silver coated core of the optical fiber. Wavelength interrogation mode of operation has been used to characterize the sensor. The detection of hydrogen peroxide has been carried out by measuring the shift in the resonance wavelength for the concentration range 10−8 to 10−1 M. Experiments show a large shift in the resonance wavelength with the increase in the concentration of hydrogen peroxide. This is due to the fact that silver nanoparticles have the catalytic efficiency to decompose hydrogen peroxide. The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide results in the degradation of silver nanoparticles which changes the refractive index of the nanocomposite layer and causes shift in resonance wavelength. This reason has been further supported by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) results. The sensor possesses very fast response time, high sensitivity. Being the fiber optic probe the sensor is compact, cheap and can be used for online and remote sensing. It will find applications in medical, clinical and environmental sciences.