Ultra-Sensitive Plasmonic Sensor for Detecting Honey Adulteration with III-V Nitride and Tungsten Disulfide

Owing to its phytochemical and antioxidant properties, honey has gained recognition as a therapeutic agent for various ailments, leading to its prominent role in the food industry. However, this popularity has also given rise to the significant problem of honey adulteration, posing a major challenge for the food industry. The present study explores the utilization of the wurtzite nitride semiconductor material, in combination with tungsten disulfide (WS2), within the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor design for the detection of honey adulteration. The sensor's structure is based on the BK7 glass prism with a silver (Ag) coated base, incorporating a heterostructure composed of GaN-WS2, AlN-WS2, and InN-WS2. The study deliberately introduces varying concentrations of different sugars, including glucose, fructose, and sucrose in honey, to mimic adulterated honey samples as a sensing medium. The angle interrogation method is implemented in the high-level computational environment to analyze the various performance parameters of the proposed sensor. With the high sensitivity (160.63 degrees/RIU) and strong evanescent field (1.13E-04 V/nm) at the interface, the InN-WS2 based SPR sensor surpasses the performance of alternative structures, including various existing SPR configurations. This work will help the scientific community in developing a highly sensitive SPR sensor for detecting honey adulteration, thereby benefiting the biomedical and food industries.