Synthesis, characterization, and applications of gold nanoparticles in development of plasmonic optical fiber-based sensors

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) are readily used nanoparticles which finds applications in fields like biosensors, drug delivery, optical bioimaging and many state of art systems used for detection. In the recent years fiber optic sensors have seen utilization of Au-NPs along with other nanoparticles for implementation of sensors for sensing various biomolecules like cholesterol, glucose, and uric acid. The cancer cells, creatinine and bacteria can also be detected with the fiber optic sensors. Given the significance of Au-NPs in fiber optic sensors, the current work is a review of the synthesis, the common methods used for characterization, and the applications of Au-NPs. It is important to discuss and analyse the work reported in the literature to understand the trend and gaps in developing plasmonic optical fiber sensors.