Martínez Hernández, María ElenaGoicoechea Fernández, JavierArregui San Martín, Francisco Javier2020-05-192020-05-1920191424-822010.3390/s19224906https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/36918Mercury is an important contaminant since it is accumulated in the body of living beings, and very small concentrations are very dangerous in the long term. This paper reports the fabrication of a highly sensitive fiber optic sensor using the layer-by-layer nano-assembly technique with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The gold nanoparticles were obtained via a water-based synthesis route that use poly acrylic acid (PAA) as stabilizing agent, in the presence of a borane dimethylamine complex (DMAB) as reducing agent, giving PAA-capped AuNPs. The sensing mechanism is based on the alteration of the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonances (LSPR) generated by AuNPs thanks to the strong chemical affinity of metallic mercury towards gold, which lead to amalgam alloys.12 p.application/pdfeng© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)Fiber optic sensorGold nanoparticlesLocalized surface plasmon resonanceMercuryPpbinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess