SPR Navi™ is especially useful in the research of

Layer-by-layer assembly Self-assembled monolayers Self-assembly Langmuir-Blodgett films Biological membranes Polymeric films Inorganic films Material science Bio-optical coatings (Contact lenses, biological optical assays) Implant coatings (Biocompatibility, Anti-microbial coatings) Basic research of biological membranes Cell culture matrix research Surface reactions Biopolymer coatings – quality control Surface polymerizations

Application examples:

AN109 LB film characterization in air

Creating ordered single or multiple layers of molecules has a multitude of technology applications in, for instance, biosensors and nanoelectronics etc. In this example, Langmuir-Blodgett deposition was used to deposit single and multiple layers of stearic acid on gold. By measuring the full SPR intensity versus angle curves in air, the layer thickness after successive depositions could be quickly and easily confirmed. In this case, the film thickness increased linearly with the number of layers.

"Precise control of Langmuir-Blodgett film thickness" SPR intensity versus angle curves measured in air for an increasing number of LB layers of Stearic Acid on gold.

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AN115 Measuring water content in thin films by SPR and QCM

It is possible to quantify the bound water content of nanoscale thin films by combining the two different techniques, SPR and QCM. In a QCM measurement in liquid media the mechanical QCM method detects mass changes that include any bound solvent molecules in the layer, while an optical SPR technique detects the mass differing from the bulk solution, meaning the dry mass of the layer. By combining these two techniques, water content of a thin layer can easily be quantified, which is shown in the example below.

"Determining amount of bound water in self adsorbed polymer layers on different surfaces by combination of SPR and QCM" Bound polymer mass measured by SPR on different surfaces and concentrations.

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AN111 Characterization of Polyelectrolyte Multilayers

Polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) are soft nanoscale films that are build by layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly in solution on a substrate. The SPR Navi 200 can be utilized to monitor the assembly in situ with full angular spectra, which enables collection of both kinetic information from the formation and layer thicknesses from a single experiment. The method can also be used with components that have complex refractive index, like metallic nanoparticles, making SPR Navi 200 a powerfull tool when studying functional coatings made by LbL method.

"Monitoring of PEMs Layer-by-Layer assembly" SPR-spectra of pure sensor slide in buffer (black) and with increasing number of PE-layers (blue).

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AN112 In Situ Monitoring of L-by-L assembly of MOFs

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have high potential for hydrogen storage, optics and catalysis. A MOF composed of copper and benzenetricarboxylic acid was synthesized and characterized in situ using the SPR Navi 200 with autosampler. The optical thickness of the material was obtained using the full angular spectra in both solvent and air. The optical thickness of the MOF was found to increase nearly linearly, and the increment to approach a constant value when adding layers. The experiment shows that the instrument is capable to measure materials with complex refractive indexes.

"Monitoring of MOFs Layer-by-Layer assembly" SPR sensograms of both fixed angle experiment (blue), and angular scan experiment (black).

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AN116 Characterizing Graphene Films with BioNavis SPR Navi 200 and KSV-Nima PMI 550 before and after deposition with KSV-Nima Langmuir-Blodgett method

We introduced more thoroughly two powerful optical methods for characterizing graphene films before and after deposition, PM-IRRAS and SPR. With KSV-Nima PMI 550 it was possible to record detailed IR spectra of floating and deposited layers to determine the chemical composition. The SPR Navi 200 was capable of characterizing the thickness and the complex refractive indices of the deposited layers. It was possible to distinguish single sheet and aggregated graphene from each other.

"Deposition and Characterization of single-sheet graphene and graphene oxide films" SPR Spectra of Graphene films BG, GO1 and GO2. BG stands for Background and was measured from pure SPR sensor. The dashed lines are the fitted model curves from the experiments.

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Please review/download all Application Notes from HERE.