Symmetric Metal Organic Framework-Plasmonic Architectures for Reversible and High-Sensitivity Optical Sensing
Qi, Xiaoyu (Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona)
Pérez, Luis Alberto (Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona)
Meng, Lingxin (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Imaz, Inhar (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Alonso Carmona, Maria Isabel (Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona)
Maspoch Comamala, Daniel (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Mihi, Agustín (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)

Date:	2026
Abstract:	Plasmonic nanostructures have attracted considerable interest for their ability to manipulate light at the nanoscale. The optical response of these metallic architectures is greatly sensitive to changes in their surrounding environment, which makes them particularly interesting for sensing applications. Here, we report a versatile and highly sensitive plasmonic sensing platform that combines the surface lattice resonances (SLRs), sustained by 2D gratings of metal nanoparticles, and the exceptional refractive index tunability offered by ZIF-8 metal-organic framework (MOF) films. The SLRs provide narrow resonances that strongly depend on the surrounding refractive index, which can be modulated via solvent exchange in the ZIF-8. The plasmonic 2D arrays were fabricated using templated-assisted assembly of metal colloids; a scalable and gentle process that enabled the study of different ZIF-8/grating configurations. First, we studied ZIF-8 films on top of the 2D arrays, where an optimized concentration of the colloidal dispersion allowed dynamic and reversible ON/OFF tuning of the SLR response. Second, we explored the role of the refractive index mismatch between substrate and ZIF-8 superstrate. Finally, we fabricated 2D plasmonic gratings completely embedded within ZIF-8 layers, achieving enhanced sensing performance with a refractive index sensitivity of 427 ± 19 nm·RIU . These results highlight the potential of MOF-plasmonic hybrids as responsive and tunable nanophotonic platforms for next-generation optical sensing applications.
Grants:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación TED2021-132807B-I00 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2022-141956NB-I00 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2021-123265NB-I00 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-00458 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-00444 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2023-001263-S Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2021-001214-S
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Lattice resonance ; MOF ; Plasmonics ; Sensing
Published in:	Small (Weinheim), Vol. 22, Num. 18 (March 2026) , art. e09618, ISSN 1613-6829

DOI: 10.1002/smll.202509618

9 p, 2.4 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles