Gradient Guided-Mode Resonance Biosensor with Smartphone Readout

Integrating biosensors with smartphones is becoming an increasingly popular method for detecting various biomolecules and could replace expensive laboratory-based instruments. In this work, we demonstrate a novel smartphone-based biosensor system with a gradient grating period guided-mode resonance (GGP-GMR) sensor. The sensor comprises numerous gratings which each correspond to and block the light of a specific resonant wavelength. This results in a dark band, which is observed using a CCD underneath the GGP-GMR sensor. By monitoring the shift in the dark band, the concentration of a molecule in a sample can be determined. The sensor is illuminated by a light-emitting diode, and the light transmitted through the GGP-GMR sensor is directly captured by a smartphone, which then displays the results. Experiments were performed to validate the proposed smartphone biosensor and a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.50 × 10⁻³ RIU was achieved for sucrose solutions. Additionally, multiplexed detection was demonstrated for albumin and creatinine solutions at concentrations of 0–500 and 0–1 mg/mL, respectively; the corresponding LODs were 1.18 and 20.56 μg/mL.