Microfluidic for supporting Fiber-optic-based Surface Plasmon Resonance sensor

Microfluidic has been developed to be applied as sensor and sensor support because of its small size (in the micrometer range), compact structure, low analyte consumption and can be integrated into a chip. The combination of microfluidic and optical systems (optical fiber) has been widely used among microfluidic-based sensors. Based on its sensing principle, an optical fiber-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is very promising for detecting bacteria, viruses, chemical molecules, etc. In this paper, we discuss microfluidics research for supporting fiber-optic sensors in detail, such as device fabrication and application of integrated microfluidic-optical fiber-based SPR sensors. Factors affecting sensitivity, such as the gold layer thickness, and the effect of the sensing area were studied through simulation to strengthen the understanding of the sensor.