Plasmonic Enhancement in Bimetallic Ag/Au–GST–BP Multilayer  SPR Structures for VOC Detection

Authors

  • Vivek Saxena Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad 201 009, India
  • Parita Jain Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Krishna Institute of Engineering & Technology, Ghaziabad 201 007, India
  • Saibal Manna Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad 201 009, India
  • Varun Gupta Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Ravangla 737 139, India
  • Amaresh Gantayet Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Siksha O Anusandhan, deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar 751 030, India
  • Navneet Kumar Department of Electrical Engineering, Rajkiya Engineering College, Bijnor 246 725, India
  • Nishant Kumar Department of Electrical Engineering, B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pilani 333 031, India https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3643-8306

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56042/ijpap.v65i5.28566

Keywords:

Surface plasmon resonance sensor, Black phosphorus, Phase-change material, Breath-based biomedical diagnostics

Abstract

This study presents a bimetallic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for the non-invasive detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath, targeting early diagnosis of liver and pulmonary diseases. The proposed multilayer structure consists of a NaF prism, Ag/Au bilayer, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ (GST) phase-change material, black phosphorus (BP) layers, and a sensing medium. Finite element simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics were conducted to evaluate angular reflectance characteristics and optimize layer thicknesses and BP stacking. Sensor performance was assessed through resonance angle shifts corresponding to variations in VOC concentration. The optimized configuration, comprising amorphous GST and 18 BP layers, demonstrated superior sensitivity due to enhanced electromagnetic interaction at the sensing interface. The sensor achieved refractive index sensitivities of 1500 RIU⁻¹ for lung disease biomarkers and 163.630 RIU⁻¹ for liver-related biomarkers. These results highlight the potential of the proposed SPR design for accurate, breath-based biomedical diagnostics.

Author Biography

  • Nishant Kumar, Department of Electrical Engineering, B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology, Pilani 333 031, India

    Dr. Nishant Kumar (SMIEEE'25) is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at B K Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology (BKBIET), Pilani, India. He obtained his B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM), Odisha, in 2015. He completed his M.Tech in Power Systems Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Nagaland, in 2017, and was awarded a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur in 2023.

    Dr. Kumar has also served as an Assistant Professor at Chaibasa Engineering College, Jharkhand, under the Ministry of Education’s TEQIP-III initiative (funded by the Government of India and World Bank), from January 2018 to September 2021, appointed through MHRD-NPIU.

    His core research interests include:

    • Modelling and control of modern power systems

    • Microgrid and smart grid technologies

    • Renewable energy integration: planning, forecasting, and energy management

    • Application of soft computing techniques (e.g., meta-heuristic algorithms)

    • Machine learning applications in power system optimization and forecasting

    Dr. Kumar is a Senior Member of IEEE and a member of IAENG, has also served as Chair of the IEEE Systems Student Branch Chapter at NIT Jamshedpur. He is an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Springer Nature), a prominent international journal. He is also actively involved in scholarly peer review and contributes as a reviewer for reputed international journals including Applied Energy (AEE), International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive Systems (IJPEDS), and Journal of Applied Mathematics.

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Published

2026-05-26

Issue

Vol. 64 No. 5 (2026): Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics

Section

Article

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics (IJPAP)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Plasmonic Enhancement in Bimetallic Ag/Au–GST–BP Multilayer  SPR Structures for VOC Detection. (2026). Indian Journal of Pure & Applied Physics (IJPAP), 64(5), 566-578. https://doi.org/10.56042/ijpap.v65i5.28566

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