Comparative analysis of Sensitivity enhancement of SPR sensor based

Undoped and doped ZnO with Ti3C2Tx

Rajeev Kumar1, Sarika Pal1, Y.K. Prajapati2, J.P. Saini3

1
Department of ECE, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, Srinagar Pauri Garhwal
246174, Uttarakhand, India
2
Department of ECE, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj
211004, (U.P.), India
3
Department of ECE, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, New Delhi, 110078, India
*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract: Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor based on the Ga-doped-ZnO and Ti3C2Tx is
presented to enhance the sensitivity. The Ga-doped-ZnO works as an interacting layer with the
analyte for the enhancement of the sensitivity of the sensor. It is observed that the sensitivity of
Ga-doped-ZnO based sensor is improved and highest sensitivity 264.59 º/RIU achieved. The
effects on parameters of SPR sensor due to different prisms (SiO2, BaF2, CsF and BK7),
plasmonic metals (Au, Ag, Cu, and Al) and doping in ZnO (intermediate layer) are analyzed.
The best combination of the SPR sensor structure is SiO 2/Au/Ga-doped-ZnO/Ti3C2Tx, which
obtained the maximum sensitivity. Moreover, we have used the various prisms and metals for the
comparison. This structure will be open new ways in various applications area including
detection of biological and chemical analyte.

Keywords: SPR sensor, ZnO, Ti3C2Tx, Detection Accuracy (DA), Figure of Merit (FoM).

1. Introduction
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique is a label-free, highly efficient, real-time analysis
and popular in many fields like medical diagnosis, environmental safety control, health science
research, industrial monitoring, and food safety [1-4]. The SPR sensors rely on the measurement
of binding induces RI changes of sensing region on adsorption of analytes. Kretschmann
configuration is generally used in SPR sensors, which employ prism to couple light to
metal/dielectric interface [3]. At metal dielectric interface, the charge carriers oscillate due to
positive real part of permittivity of dielectric material and negative real part of permittivity of
metal. This phenomenon generates surface plasmon wave (SPWs) at the metal-dielectric
interface. To achieve the resonance condition, p-polarized incident light needs to be completely
coupled to this SPW wave at proper phase matching condition [4]. The SPR condition is strongly
related to the wavelength of incident light and dielectric constant of material as well as the
refractive index (RI) of the sensing medium (SM). In the conventional SPR sensor, Silver (Ag),
Gold (Au), Copper (Cu), Aluminum (Al) layers are used over the various prisms for SPs
generation. Gold is inertness to oxidation under ambient conditions, while other metals has
tendency to oxidization that minimizes sensor life and reproducibility. The oxidation problem in
the metals can be eliminated after coating another 2D material, metal oxides etc. on it.
Researcher investigated high refractive index (RI) conducting metal oxide layer in the SPR
sensors to improve the performance because of their excellent crystalline quality and structural
homogeneity [5]. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is much investigated for the biosensing applications due to
its unique properties such as wide bandgap (Eg=3.37eV), biocompatibility, high catalytic activity,
and high isoelectric point (IEP =9.5) and cost effectiveness etc. [6-8]. It is also investigated for
other applications such as light emitting diode, gas sensor, solar cell, lasers, biosensors, and
transport conducting film [9-15]. ZnO is a transparent conducting oxide with maximum
luminescence efficiency mobility (50 cm2V-1s-1), electron concentration (1021 cm-3), and higher
binding energy (60 meV) [16,17]. Hsu et al. [18], discussed the optical and transport properties
of undoped and Al-, Ga-, and In-doped ZnO thin film. The group investigated the increased
conductivity and mobility for Al, Ga, and In-doped ZnO thin films than doped one. Kim et al.
[19] theoretically designed and investigated Al, Ga and tin-doped ZnO thin films as potential
transparent conducting oxides (TCO) for SPs generation in the NIR range. Shukla et al. [20],
theoretical discussed the ZnO thin film-based fiber optic SPR sensor for sensitivity
improvement.
Recently, Ti3C2Tx (MXene) among family of transition metal carbides, carbonitrides and nitrides
has been investigated as 2D nanomaterials [20-22]. MXene possesses excellent properties such
as low band gap, high metallic conductivity, accessible hydrophilic surfaces, larger surface area,
and chemical stability useful for sensing application [21]. Wu et al. [22] reported the role of
Ti3C2Tx over the different metals in SPR sensor to improve the sensitivity up to 160 º/RIU. Xu
et al. [23], theoretically investigated SPR sensor based on 2D material such as TMDs and
MXene. The maximum sensitivity 198°/RIU IS obtained. Srivastava et al [24], theoretically
presented SPR sensor (Ti3C2Tx-WS2-black phosphorus (BP)-Au) for sensitivity enhancement of
190.22º/RIU. R. Kumar et al. [25], proposed Ti3C2Tx mediated SPR biosensor which achieved
the maximum sensitivity 264 º/RIU with use of silicon and BP.
In this study, we analytically simulated and discussed a SPR sensor based on undoped, doped
ZnO layer and Ti3C2Tx. for refractive index sensing. The schematic diagram for the proposed
structure SiO2/Au/Ga-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx of the SPR sensor is shown in fig. 1. The top Ti 3C2Tx
layer over undoped/Al-/Ga-/In-doped ZnO layer is used as the outermost layer for better
attachment of molecules/biomolecules and increasing the sensitivity of the proposed SPR sensor.
Our contribution revel potential application of Ti3C2Tx as a new type of sensing material and it is
there anticipated that Ti3C2Tx and other 2D material could find promising application in SPR
sensor. The novelty of the proposed structure lies in the application of undoped-doped ZnO-
Ti3C2Tx in RI sensing owing to the excellent properties of undoped-doped ZnO and Ti 3C2Tx
composite [ 18,21]. Moreover, the undoped-doped ZnO over Ti 3C2Tx layer can enchanted the
SPP mode and electric field enhancement at interface between them. The application of
undoped-doped ZnO- Ti3C2Tx in SPR based sensor at wavelength of 633nm is presented. The
metal layer thickness is optimized in order to attain the Rmin. value at resonance condition.
Therewith, sensitivity comparison is made among some of the SPR sensor including Ti 3C2Tx
layer. In addition, to check the effect of prism and metal RI on performance factor is also
discussed.

Fig.1 Proposed Sensor

2. Sensor Modeling
2.1 Description of sensor’s constituent layers
The Fig.1 shows the proposed SPR biosensor configuration that comprises of the prism, metal
layer, undoped/Al, Ga, In-doped ZnO, Ti 3C2Tx, and sensing layer. Its characteristic wavelength is
633 nm. Here, different prism (SiO2, BaF2, CsF, BK7), metal layer (Au/Ag/Cu/Al) and undoped
ZnO /Al, Ga, In-doped ZnO are used for performance comparison of the proposed sensor. The
refractive indices and thickness of all constituent layer is presented in Table 1.
Table. 1: Material thickness and Refractive Index used in proposed SPR sensor at λ=633nm.
Refractive Index (n Referen
Materials Used
+ ik) ces
SiO2 1.4607(1.4633) [27]
BaF2 1.4733 [32]
Prism
CsF 1.4768 [33]
BK7 1.5151 [25]
Gold (Au) 0.1378 +i ×3.6196
Silver (Ag) 0.0803 + i ×4.2347
Metals Copper (Cu) 0.0369 + i ×4.5393
[25]
Aluminum 0.0778 + i ×
(Al) 5.8535
Undoped 2.2780
Al-doped 2.5638
ZnO Sample [18]
Ga-doped 2.1769
In-doped 1.7625
2D Material Ti3C2Tx 2.38 + i ×1.33 [24]

The sensing medium is considered as the last layer of the aqueous solution with the RI variation
1.33+∆ns, where ∆ns =0.005 representing the RI shift of the sensing medium with analyte
absorption over the Ti3C2Tx [24]. Changes in the RI of SM are taken into account due to the
strong absorption of the biomolecules on the sensing surface of Ti3C2Tx.
2.2 Sensor Theoretical modelling and performance factors
This section covers the N-Layer modelling for calculating the reflectance and different
performance factors via as a transfer matrix method (TMM) and Fresnel equation for the
proposed sensor. The reflectance for the multilayer configuration can be achieved [21,22,23,24,
25].
2.3 Performance Parameters
To evaluate the performance of the proposed SPR sensor following parameters is computed from
the SPR characteristics curves that are simulated by MATLAB software using mathematical
model of transfer matrix method.
Sensitivity (S) is defined in terms of difference between two resonance angles ( Δ θ res =θ2−θ1)
and sensing layer RI of 1.335-1.330 ( Δ ns=0.005) measured from the reflectance curve indicates
the sensor is sensing capability.
Δ θRes . ο
S= ( /RIU) (9)
Δ ns
Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM)is difference of resonance angles at 50% reflection
intensity. It also indicates the angular width of the resonance curve. Detection accuracy (DA) is
defined as inversely proportional to the FWHM.
1
DA= (1/º) (10)
FWHM
Figure of merit (FOM) indicates the multiplication of the sensitivity and detection accuracy.
FoM =S∗DA(1/RIU) (11)
3. Discussions and Simulation Results
The structure of the proposed SPR sensor consists of the SiO 2 glass prism/Au/undoped-doped
ZnO/Ti3C2Tx layer and water as reference sensing medium, shown in Fig 1. There are some
parameters need to be optimized in the performance factor of the SPR sensor such as gold layer
thicknesses. In this study, we seek to obtained the optimum thickness of Au layer which consist
of Au-Undoped-doped ZnO layers for the enhancement of sensitivity of proposed SPR sensor.
By using the theoretical analysis, to investigate the effect of various thickness of Au layer
towards the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons. To optimize the thickness of the Au for the
various proposed structures, we have calculated the reflectivity and sensitivity over optimized
thickness of Au (20-60nm) as shown in Fig.2. The Fig. 2 (a) shows the variation of minimum
reflectance corresponding to optimized thickness of Au layer. It was found that the optimum
thickness of Au layer respectively for obtained the maximum sensitivity. As per Fig. 2(a) the Au
optimum thickness are obtained at 39nm, 38nm, 40nm and 39nm, corresponding to undoped, Al-
doped, In- doped ZnO and Ga-doped configurations, respectively. For an undoped and doped
ZnO layers, the Rmin is firstly decreased at a certain thickness of an Au layer and after that
increase.
Fig.2 Plot the graph of optimization thickness of gold layer vs. Minimum Reflectance (a)
Undoped & Al-/Ga-/In-doped ZnO with Ti3C2Txlayer (b) Gold layer vs sensitivity of Undoped &
Al-/ Ga-/In-doped ZnO with Ti3C2Tx layer
Table 2 Sensitivity of all proposed SPR sensor at Rmin.
SPR Sensor Structure Sensitivity (º/RIU) Rmin. (a.u)
Prism SiO2/Au(39nm)/Undoped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 256.57 3.16×10-4
Prism SiO2/Au(38nm)/Al-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 262.41 9.93×10-5
Prism SiO2/Au(40nm)/In-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 230.90 1.09×10-6
Prism SiO2/Au(39nm)/Ga-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 251.52 2.21×10-6

Fig. 2(b), shows the variation of the sensitivity corresponding to thickness of the Au. The
maximum sensitivity is 264.24º/RIU, 263.78º/RIU, 264.13º/RIU and 264.59º/RIU are achieved
corresponding to undoped, Al-doped, In- doped ZnO and Ga-doped configurations, at thickness
of the Au layer 42nm, 39nm, 55nm and 44nm, respectively. We have considered the RI change
to the sensing layer ∆ns =0.005. The variations in terms of sensitivity using undoped and
Al-/In-/Ga-doped ZnO layer is firstly increase at a certain thickness after that decrease,
respectively. The maximum sensitivity is obtained against proposed Ga-doped configuration
because it’s the lowest resistivity (2.9×10 -4 Ω-cm), highest mobility (20 cm2/Vs.), and surface
roughness is minimum [18].
Table 3 Comparison of the maximum sensitivity of all proposed SPR sensor
SPR Sensor Structure Sensitivity (º/RIU) Rmin. (a.u)
Prism SiO2/Au/Undoped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 264.24 0.0299
Prism SiO2/Au/Al-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 263.78 0.00440
Prism SiO2/Au/In-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 264.13 0.0628
Prism SiO2/Au/Ga-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx/SM 264.59 0.30561

Fig.3 (a) The reflectance curve at maximum sensitivity of proposed sensor (b) The reflectance
curve after change in RI of SM layer

The reflectance curve presented in Fig. 3 were simulated by MATLAB simulation software for
proposed sensor modeled using TMM method. Fig. 3(a) shows that the reflectivity curves for the
proposed Ga-doped ZnO based SPR sensor at 1.33 and 1.335 RI of sensing medium with
optimized thickness 44nm of Au. The maximum sensitivity, DA and FoM are 264.59º/RIU,
0.11/º and 29/RIU, respectively which are calculated from the SPR curves, depicted in Fig. 3 (a).
The change in resonance angle (Δ𝜃res) is 1.32º at which maximum sensitivity achieved for the
proposed SPR sensor. Fig. 3 (b) shows the variation in the reflectance curves with the variation
of RI of sensing medium ns from 1.32 to 1.34 at ∆ns =0.005. At the RI (ns) values 1.32, 1.325,
1.33, 1.335, 1.34 of sensing medium, the corresponding resonance angles values 79.55º, 80.73º,
81.99º, 83.31º, 84.54º and Rmin values 2.2×10-2, 3.7×10-2, 6.7×10-2, 1.1×10-1, 2.0 ×10-1, are
obtained, respectively, shown in Fig. 3(b). If increasing the RI of the sensing medium the
reflectance curve is shifted to the larger value of angle. Because Ga-doped ZnO is the highest
electron concentration of 1×1021cm-3other than doped ZnO film [18].
The prism in SPR sensor is used as the couple device for matching the condition of resonance.
The effect of different prisms on performance parameter of the proposed SPR configuration
shown in Fig.4. Fig. 4 (a) depicts the reflectance curves for proposed SPR sensor with different
prism at the sensing medium RI as 1.330. The performance parameters of different prism based
proposed SPR have been summarized in table 3. The resonance angle is obtained against the
various prism SiO2, BaF2, CsF and BK7 of 81.99°, 79.59°, 78.99°, 73.68° respectively. It is clear
that the RI is higher (as summarized in table 1.) so the resonance angle is shifted to the lower
angle (left side). Moreover, we have calculated the performance parameter of various prism such
as SiO2, BaF2, CsF, BK7 in terms of sensitivity, Rmin, DA, and FoM for the proposed
configuration against prism/Au(44nm)/Ga-doped ZnO(3nm)/Ti3C2Tx/SM shown in Fig.4 (a &b).
All the performance parameter is summarized in table 4. It is clear that the maximum sensitivity
is obtained 240.61º /RIU when prism SiO2 (RI= 1.4607) at Rmin. However, FoM is higher as
compared to other prisms used. Therefore, in the present case sensitivity governs the decrease in
FoM on increasing the RI of prism. From the above discussion in table 3 and Fig.4 it can be
inferred that the SiO2 prism can be best suited coupling substrate amongst others discussed prism
for achieving significantly enhanced sensitivity and reasonable DA and FoM values.
Fig.4 (a) Reflectance curve for SPR sensor with different prism at sensing medium RI, n s=1.33
(b) Sensitivity vs. Rmin. (c) DA vs. FoM variation for different prism material considering n s =
1.330 +Δn.

Table 4. Comparison of performance parameter of SPR sensor used at various prisms at Rmin at
a certain thickness of Au layer.
Prism Au Sensitivity Rmin FWHM DA FoM
(nm) (°/RIU) [a.u] (°) (/°) (/RIU)
BK7 158.13 2.6×10-3 7.69 0.13 20.55
CsF 223.22 1.9×10-2 8.6 0.1162 25.93
BaF2 232.85 2.4×10-2 8.66 0.1154 26.87
SiO2 264.59 6.2×10-2 8.68 0.1152 30.48

Fig.5(a) Reflectance curve for SPR sensor with different metals at sensing medium RI, n s=1.330
(b) Sensitivity vs. FoM (c) FWHM vs. DA variation for different metals considering n s = 1.330
+Δn.
Table 5. Performance parameters of proposed SPR sensor under the effect of different plasmonic
metals with optimized thickness.
Optimized metal Sensitivity Rmin FWHM DA FoM
Thickness (°/RIU) [a.u] (°) (/°) (/RIU)
Au (39nm) 251.52 2.2×10-6 9.58 0.1043 26.25
Ag (42nm) 191.82 2.8×10-4 4.82 0.2074 39.79
Cu (43nm) 173.37 1.8×10-4 2.93 0.3412 59.17
Al (33nm) 132.69 3.8×10-4 1.4 0.7142 94.77

The effects of different plasmonic metals (Au, Ag, Cu, and Al) on the proposed SPR sensor are
shown in Fig.5. The Fig. 5 (a) depicts the reflectance curves for the different metals (Au, Ag, Cu,
Al) based Ga-doped ZnO, Ti3C2Tx and the sensing layer. For all the cases, the optimized metal
thickness is summarized in table 4 with Rmin values. Here, Ag, Cu, Al is providing the less
sensitivity because these metals are quite prone to oxidation and they are not strongly chemically
stable against Au metal. However, reflectance curve width is maximum for the Au layer. The
resonance angles of Au, Ag, Cu and Al based proposed SPR are 81.17°, 76.54°, 74.90°, and
65.78° respectively. From Fig. 5 (a) it clearly observed that the Al provides the narrow FWHM
and their sharpest reflectance curve against all other metals due to high imaginary part of RI. The
Au is most sensitive and Al is least sensitive as plasmonic metal due to their real part of RI. In
terms of other parameter, Al shows the minimum FWHM and Au has large FWHM due to their
imaginary part of the RI, shown in Fig. 5(a). The highest DA and FoM of the Al based proposed
SPR are achieved due to minimum FWHM, shown in Fig. 5(c). Hence, Au provides the best
sensitivity among three metals. Further, a metal comparison is summarized in table 4 and Fig. 5
(b & c) for the SPR sensor structure SiO 2/Metals/Ga-doped ZnO (3nm)/Ti3C2Tx/SM. It is clear
that the maximum sensitivity is achieved 251.52º/RIU for the structure of SiO2/Au/Ga-doped
ZnO/ Ti3C2Tx/SM. For instance, a sensitivity of 251.52º/RIU is calculated for the Au (RI =
0.1378 + 3.6196i at λ=633nm) metal-based structure which sharply decrease to 191.82 º/RIU for
Ag (RI= 0.0803 + 4.2347i at λ=633nm. The Au can be best suited coupling with SiO 2 prism
among other metals in view of maximum sensitivity and a reasonable FoM value. However, Ag
are weak chemical stability rather than Au. Au is strong chemically stable which improved the
sensitivity. Au and Ag gives the maximum sensitivity with reasonable resolution but these
surface plasmon’s active metals endure from oxidation in the susceptible nature. Ga-doped ZnO
is maximum protection from oxidation because its conductivity is high and resistivity is low.

Fig.6 (a) Sensitivity vs. Figure of Merit (FoM) (b) FWHM vs. Detection Accuracy (DA)
variation of RI of SM considering ns = 1.330 +Δn (where Δn=0.005).

It is important to study the effect of change in RI of the sensing medium on sensitivity and FoM
for ns = 1.330 and Δn= 5×10-3. From Fig. 6(a), it is clear that the sensitivity of proposed SPR is
increased (from 258.98 º/RIU to 264.59 º/RIU) corresponding to RI of the sensing medium (from
1.330 to 1.335). The minimum reflectance is moved away from the zero with increasing RI of
sensing medium due to increased damping, shown in Fig. 6(a). The other parameters like DA and
FoM is increased after increasing the RI of the sensing medium, due to increasing sensitivity
pattern, as shown in Fig. 6(b). The variation of DA and FoM is from 0.1152 Deg. -1 to from
0.1193 Deg.-1 and from 29.83/RIU to 31.56/RIU.
Finally, we show the comparison of recently Ti3C2Tx based sensor and proposed sensor in terms
of sensitivity as shown in table 6. Eventually, the proposed sensor is able to provide the
maximum sensitivity value of 264.59º/RIU at 633nm wavelength for ns = 1.330+Δn. The
proposed SPR sensor is suitable for the detection of biomolecules and chemical such as protein,
hemoglobin [26], nitrite [26], pesticide [27], phenol [28], H 2O2 [29], carcinoembryonic antigen
(CEA) [30], and dopamine [31] at operating wavelength of 633nm.
Table 6. Comparison of sensitivity of existing Ti3C2Tx based SPR based sensor at wavelength of
633nm
SPR Sensor Structure Year Sensitivity (º/RIU) References
BK7/Au/Ti3C2Tx 2018 160 [22]
BK7/Au/Ti3C2Tx /WS2/BP 2020 190.22 [23]
BK7/Au/TMD/Au/Ti3C2Tx 2019 198 [24]
BK7/Ag/Silicon/Ti3C2Tx 2020 231 [25]
SiO2/Au/Ga-doped ZnO/Ti3C2Tx (Proposed) - 264.59 This work

The electric filed normalized distribution for a proposed SPR sensor based on Ga-doped ZnO
and Ti3C2Tx layer are depicted in Fig.7. The analyzed electric field is normalized by the incident
electric field and z is the distance from the interface between the prism and metal. A peak
appears at the interface between Ti3C2Tx layer and sensing medium while the electric field decays
exponentially away from the interface, indicating the excitation of the SPP mode. Where the
excited electric field decayed by the factor 1/e. The normalized electric field of the SPPs at
Ti3C2Tx-SM interface are analyzed by COMSOL software as shown in Fig.7. The electric field
normalized distribution (enhancement) as well as SPPs excitation is clearly seen at the interface
between Ti3C2Tx and sensing medium interface.
Fig.8 The Electric field normalized distribution and Evanescent decay of the excited electric filed
penetrating in to the sensing medium for various SPR sensor based undoped and doped ZnO
layer(a) SiO2/Au/undoped-ZnO/Ti3C2Tx sensor(b) SiO2/Au/In-Doped-ZnO/Ti3C2Tx sensor (c)
SiO2/Au/Al-Doped-ZnO/Ti3C2Tx sensor (d) SiO2/Au/Ga-Doped-ZnO/Ti3C2Tx sensor.
Conclusion
We have proposed the theoretically designed SPR sensor based on Ga-doped ZnO with Ti3C2Tx
to improve the sensitivity. It is shown that coting Ga-doped ZnO layer on the Ti3C2Tx of the SPR
sensor can enhance the sensitivity due to adsorption and strongly binds with biomolecules. On
comparing with conventional and Ga-doped ZnO based SPR sensor schemes, it is found that the
maximum sensitivity is achieved employing the proposed SPR sensor. FoM value is also
reasonable. The maximum sensitivity 264.59º/RIU is obtained at 46nm of an Au layer thickness.
Furthermore, we analyzed the sensor performance by considering the coupled effect of various
prism, metals and change in RI of sensing layers. Also, it is analysis the electric field normalized
distribution as well as speeches of undoped, Al-/Ga-/In-doped ZnO layer. The proposed SPR
sensor opens a new field for application of Ga-doped ZnO in the SPR sensors.
References
1. Chung J W, Kim S D, Bernhardt R and Pyun J C 2005 Application of SPR biosensor for
medical diagnostics of human hepatitis B virus (hHBV) Sensors Actuators B.Chem. 112
416–22.
2. Liu, Lili, Mei Wang, Lipeng Jiao, Ting Wu, Feng Xia, Meijie Liu, Weijin Kong, Lifeng
Dong, and Maojin Yun. "Sensitivity enhancement of a graphene–barium titanate-based
surface plasmon resonance biosensor with an Ag–Au bimetallic structure in the visible
region." JOSA B 36, no. 4 (2019): 1108-1116.
3. Kretschmann E and Raether H 1968 Radiative decay of non-radiative surface plasmons
excited by light Z.Naturforsch. 23 2135–6
4. Narsaiah K, Jha S N and Bhardwaj R 2012 Optical biosensors for food quality and
safety assurance—a review J. Food Sci. Technol. 49 383–406
5. Rhodes, C., Franzen, S., Maria, J.P., Losego, M., Leonard, D.N., Laughlin, B., Duscher,
G. and Weibel, S., 2006. Surface plasmon resonance in conducting metal oxides. Journal
of Applied Physics, 100(5), p.054905.
6. Pal, Sarika, Narendra Pal, Anamika Teotia, and Dharmendra Kumar. "Improved
Sensitivity of Metamaterial based SPR Biosensor using Zinc Oxide." In 2020 7th
International Conference on Signal Processing and Integrated Networks (SPIN), pp.
170-175. IEEE, 2020.
7. Y. Ma, G.T. Du, S.R. Yang, Z.T. Li, B.J. Zhao, X.T. Yang, T.P. Yang, Y.T. Zhang, D.L.
Liu, Control of conductivity type in undoped ZnO thin films grown by metal organic
vapour phase epitaxy, J. Appl. Phys. 95 (2004) 6268–6272.
8. C.L. Tsai, Y.J. Lin, Y.M. Chin, W.R. Liu, W.F. Hsieh, C.H. Hsu, J.A. Chu, Low
resistance non-alloyed ohmic contacts on undoped ZnO films grown by pulsed-laser
deposition, J. Phys. D 42 (2009) 095108.
9. S.K. Gupta, A. Joshi, M. Kaur, Development of gas sensors using ZnO nanostructures, J.
Chem. Sci. 122 (2010) 57–62.
10. J.X. Wang, X.W. Sun, A. Wei, Y. Lei, X.P. Cai, C.M. Li, Z.L. Dong, Zinc oxide
nan-ocomb biosensor for glucose detection, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88 (2006) 233106
11. Sumiya, M., Tsukazaki, A., Fuke, S., Ohtomo, A., Koinuma, H. and Kawasaki, M.,
2004. SIMS analysis of ZnO films co-doped with N and Ga by temperature gradient
pulsed laser deposition. Applied surface science, 223(1-3), pp.206-209.
12. Sans, J.A., Sánchez-Royo, J.F., Segura, A., Tobias, G. and Canadell, E., 2009. Chemical
effects on the optical band-gap of heavily doped ZnO: M III (M= Al, Ga, In): an
investigation by means of photoelectron spectroscopy, optical measurements under
pressure, and band structure calculations. Physical Review B, 79(19), p.195105
13. Bhattacharya, P., Das, R.R. and Katiyar, R.S., 2004. Comparative study of Mg doped
ZnO and multilayer ZnO/MgO thin films. Thin Solid Films, 447, pp.564-567.
14. Shan, F.K., Liu, G.X., Lee, W.J. and Shin, B.C., 2007. The role of oxygen vacancies in
epitaxial-deposited ZnO thin films. Journal of Applied Physics, 101(5), p.053106.
15. Jun, M.C., Park, S.U. and Koh, J.H., 2012. Comparative studies of Al-doped ZnO and
Ga-doped ZnO transparent conducting oxide thin films. Nanoscale research letters, 7(1),
pp.1-6.
16. Tabassum, R., Gupta, B.D.: Surface plasmon resonance based fiber optic detection of
chlorine utilizing polyvinylpyrollidone supported zinc oxide thin films. Analyst 140,
1863–1870 (2015)
17. Duenow, J.N., Gessert, T.A., Wood, D.M., Barnes, T.M., Young, M., To, B., Coutts,
T.J.: Transparent conducting zinc oxide thin films doped with aluminum and
molybdenum. J. Vac. Sci.
18. Hsu, L., Yeh, C.S., Kuo, C.C., Huang, B.R. and Dhar, S., 2005. Optical and transport
properties of undoped and Al-, Ga-and In-doped ZnO thin films. Journal of
Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials, 7(6), p.3039.
19. Kim J., Naik G. V., Emami N. K., Guler U., and Boltasseva A., Plasmonic resonances in
nanostructured transparent conducting oxides films, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in
Quantum Electronics, 19(3), 2013, p. 4601907.
20. M. Naguib, et al., Two-dimensional transition metal carbides, ACS Nano 6 (2012)
1322–1331.
21. Gogotsi, Yury, and BabakAnasori. "The rise of MXenes." (2019): 8491-8494.
22. Wu L, You Q, Shan Y, Gan S, Zhao Y, Dai X, & Xiang Y (2018) Few-layer Ti 3C2Tx
MXene: A promising surface plasmon resonance biosensing material to enhance the
sensitivity. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 277:210-215.
23. Xu, Yi, Yee Sin Ang, Lin Wu, and Lay Kee Ang. "High sensitivity surface plasmon
resonance sensor based on two-dimensional MXene and transition metal dichalcogenide:
a theoretical study." Nanomaterials 9, no. 2 (2019): 165.
24. Srivastava, Akash, Alka Verma, Ritwick Das, and Y. K. Prajapati. "A theoretical
approach to improve the performance of SPR biosensor using MXene and black
phosphorus." Optik 203 (2020): 163430.
25. Kumar R, Pal S, Verma A, Prajapati YK, Saini JP (2020) Effect of silicon on sensitivity
of SPR biosensor using hybrid nanostructure of black phosphorus and MXene.
Superlattices and Microstructures. 106591.
26. Liu, H., Duan, C., Yang, C., Shen, W., Wang, F. and Zhu, Z., “A novel nitrite biosensor
based on the direct electrochemistry of hemoglobin immobilized on MXene-
Ti3C2,” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 218, pp.60-66 (2015).
27. Zhou, L., Zhang, X., Ma, L., Gao, J. and Jiang, Y., “Acetylcholinesterase/chitosan-
transition metal carbides nanocomposites-based biosensor for the organophosphate
pesticides detection” Biochemical Engineering Journal, 128, pp.243-249 (2017).
28. Wu, L., Lu, X., Wu, Z.S., Dong, Y., Wang, X., Zheng, S. and Chen, J., “2D transition
metal carbide MXene as a robust biosensing platform for enzyme immobilization and
ultrasensitive detection of phenol” Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 107, pp.69-75 (2018).
29. L. Lorencova, T. Bertok, E. Dosekova , A. Vikartovska, V. Sasinkova, J. Filip, P.
Kasak, M. Jerigova, and D. Velic, “Electrochemical performance of Ti 3C2Tx MXene in
aqueous media: towards ultrasensitive H2O2 sensing,” Electrochimica-acta 235, 471-
479 (2017).
30. Q. Wu, N. Li, Y. Wang, Y. Xu, S. Wei, J. Wu, G. Jia, X, Fang, F. Chen, and X. Cui.: A
2D transition metal carbide MXene-based SPR biosensor for ultrasensitive
carcinoembryonic antigen detection. Biosensors & Bioelectronics. 144, 111697 (2019).
31. J. Zheng, B. Wang, A. Ding, B. Weng, and J. Chen, “Synthesis of MXene/DNA/Pd/Pt
nanocomposite for sensitive detection of dopamine,” J. Electroanalyt. Chem. 816, 189–
194 (2018).
32. Malitson, I.H., 1964. Refractive properties of barium fluoride. JOSA, 54(5), pp.628-632.
33. Li, H.H., 1976. Refractive index of alkali halides and its wavelength and temperature
derivatives. Journal of physical and chemical reference data, 5(2), pp.329-528.