School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, 10 Colinton Rd, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jan 16;19(2):355. doi: 10.3390/s19020355.
Interest in sensors and their applications is rapidly evolving, mainly driven by the huge demand of technologies whose ultimate purpose is to improve and enhance health and safety. Different electromagnetic technologies have been recently used and achieved good performances. Despite the plethora of literature, limitations are still present: limited response control, narrow bandwidth, and large dimensions. MetaSurfaces, artificial 2D materials with peculiar electromagnetic properties, can help to overcome such issues. In this paper, a generic tool to model, design, and manufacture MetaSurface sensors is developed. First, their properties are evaluated in terms of impedance and constitutive parameters. Then, they are linked to the structure physical dimensions. Finally, the proposed method is applied to realize devices for advanced sensing and medical diagnostic applications: glucose measurements, cancer stage detection, water content recognition, and blood oxygen level analysis. The proposed method paves a new way to realize sensors and control their properties at will. Most importantly, it has great potential to be used for many other practical applications, beyond sensing and diagnostics.
人们对传感器及其应用的兴趣正在迅速发展，主要是由旨在改善和增强健康和安全的技术的巨大需求所驱动。最近已经使用了不同的电磁技术，并取得了良好的性能。尽管有大量的文献，但仍存在局限性：响应控制有限、带宽窄、尺寸大。具有特殊电磁特性的人工二维材料——超表面，可以帮助克服这些问题。本文开发了一种通用的工具来对超表面传感器进行建模、设计和制造。首先，根据阻抗和本构参数对其特性进行评估。然后，将它们与结构物理尺寸联系起来。最后，将提出的方法应用于实现用于先进传感和医学诊断应用的设备：葡萄糖测量、癌症阶段检测、水分识别和血氧水平分析。所提出的方法为实现传感器并随意控制其特性开辟了一条新途径。最重要的是，它具有很大的潜力可用于除传感和诊断之外的许多其他实际应用。
