High sensitivity photonic crystal biosensor incorporating nanorod structures for enhanced surface area

The surface area of a photonic crystal biosensor is greatly enhanced through the incorporation of a porous TiO2 film possessing the structure of nanorods into the device. The film is deposited by the glancing angle deposition technique in an e-beam evaporation system. The sensitivity of high surface area sensors is compared with sensors without the high surface area coating. Results for detection of polymer films, large proteins and small molecules indicate up to a four-fold enhancement of detected adsorbed mass density.