Table 4.

Summary of photonic crystal biological sensors. The first column (left) indicates the dimensionality of the PhC, whereas the second column indicates the type of structure and its constituting materials. In the sensor’s response columns, Δλ_B is the value of the shift of the Bragg peak’s wavelength induced by the external stimulus or analyte (third column). When available, the value of the limit of detection (LOD) is shown.

PhC	PhC Structure and Material	External Stimulus or Analyte Detected	Sensor’s Response	Ref.
1D	Mesoporous multilayer Bragg stack (SiO2-TiO2 NPs)	Bacteria	Chromatic discrimination of ATCC 27853, ATCC 25922, ATCC 29213, ATCC 12228	[79]
2D	Composite hydrogel (PS, PAM-AA)	Glucose	Detection range from 0.4 to 53.3 mmol/L	[44]
2D	Composite hydrogel (PS, HEMA)	Sarin	LOD: 6.7 × 10−14 mmol/L	[80]
3D	hydrogel inverse opal (3-APBA)	Glucose	ΔλB = 139 nm for glucose concentration of 5 mmol	[81]
3D	hydrogel inverse opal (PEG-DA)	Immunoglobulin G antibody	ΔλB = 50 nm for a concentration of 10 mg/mL	[82]
3D	Inverse opal (functionalized Si)	Influenza viruses	Selectivity of H1N1 subtype; detection in the range 103–105 PFU	[83]
3D	Hollow hydrogel particles (AAm)	Enzyme	Chromatic detection of enzyme activity	[84]
3D	Inverse silica opal (functionalized)	Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)	Detection of TNF-alpha via fluorescence quenching	[85]
3D	Inverse opal hydrogel (PHEMA)	Streptavidin	LOD: 1.0 nM	[86]

Abbreviations: NPs: nanoparticles; ATCC27853: pseudomonas aeruginosa; ATCC 25922: Escherichia coli; ATCC29213: staphylococcus aureus; ATCC 12228: Staphylococcus epidermidis; PS: polystyrene; PAM-AA: polyacrylamide-co-acrylic acid; HEMA: 2-Hydroxyethyl methacrylate; 3-ABPA: 3-acrylamidophenyl boronic acid; AChE: acetylcholinesterase; PEG-DA: poly(ethylene glycol)-diacrylate; H₁N₁: influenza A subtype H₁N₁; AAm: acrylamide; TNF-alpha: tumor necrosis factor alpha; PHEMA: poly(2-hydroethylmethacrylate).