Plasmonic Metasurfaces Based on Nanopin‐Cavity Resonator for Quantitative Colorimetric Ricin Sensing

In view of the toxic potential of a bioweapon threat, rapid visual recognition and sensing of ricin has been of considerable interest while remaining a challenging task up to date. In this study, a gold nanopin‐based colorimetric sensor is developed realizing a multicolor variation for ricin qualitative recognition and analysis. It is revealed that such plasmonic metasurfaces based on nanopin‐cavity resonator exhibit reflective color appearance, due to the excitation of standing‐wave resonances of narrow bandwidth in visible region. This clear color variation is a consequence of the reflective color mixing defined by different resonant wavelengths. In addition, the colored metasurfaces appear sharp color difference in a narrow refractive index range, which makes them especially well‐suited for sensing applications. Therefore, this antibody‐functionalized nanopin‐cavity biosensor features high sensitivity and fast response, allowing for visual quantitative ricin detection within the range of 10–120 ng mL−1 (0.15 × 10−9–1.8 × 10−9 m), a limit of detection of 10 ng mL−1, and the typical measurement time of less than 10 min. The on‐chip integration of such nanopin metasurfaces to portable colorimetric microfluidic device may be envisaged for the quantitative studies of a variety of biochemical molecules. A plasmonic nanopin‐based colorimetric sensor is developed for ricin qualitative recognition and analysis. This antibody‐functionalized nanopin‐cavity biosensor features high sensitivity and fast response, allowing for visual quantitative ricin detection within the range of 10–120 ng mL−1 (0.15 × 10−9–1.8 × 10−9 m), a limit of detection of 10 ng mL−1 and the typical measurement time of less than 10 min.