Several developed low-cost, highly sensitive, and simple to realize and to use plasmonic sensor configurations will be here recalled. In particular, the proposed sensor configurations are based on unconventional platforms that efficiently excite the plasmonic phenomena in gold nanofilms, continuous or nanostructured, such as polymer optical fibers and light-diffusing fibers (LDFs). The proposed platforms can be combined with chemical and biological receptors in several application fields. In these cases, we can obtain the selectivity for the substances of interest via the use of specific Molecular Recognition Elements (MREs) in contact with the plasmonic sensing surfaces, such as those based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), antibodies, aptamers, and nanoMIPs. The substances measured with the proposed approach are pollutants, viruses, bacteria, toxic metals, pesticides, or other molecules of interest to detect in aqueous solutions. So, the advantages and disadvantages of each biochemical sensor system are presented in detail.
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