Highly Sensitive Detection of 4-Methylimidazole Using a Terahertz Metamaterial.
SENSORS 2018;
18:s18124304. [PMID:
30563253 PMCID:
PMC6308624 DOI:
10.3390/s18124304]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Revised: 12/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
In this study, we demonstrated a highly sensitive detection method of 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI), a carcinogenic material, by using a terahertz (THz) metamaterial at a THz region. The THz metamaterials were fabricated with a metal array, using an electric-field-coupled inductor-capacitor (ELC) resonator structure, and a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation showed good agreement with the experimental results. We measured the THz spectra of the metamaterials to detect the 4-MeI concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L. The resonance frequency of the metamaterial was shifted by, approximately, 8 GHz and transmittance at the resonance frequency increased to 2 × 10−3, as the concentration was increased, up to 20 mg/L. Our study provides new insight into the application of metamaterials in detecting carcinogens, using a THz technique.
Collapse