Ahmed Fardin, Azim Md Ayenul, Zubair Ahmed
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka 1205 Bangladesh
RSC Adv. 2025 Jun 18;15(26):20530-20541. doi: 10.1039/d5ra01143d. eCollection 2025 Jun 16.
Pesticides play a vital role in agriculture by protecting crops from pests and diseases and ensuring high yields. However, improper use poses severe risks to human health and the environment, emphasizing the need for the precise detection of pesticide residues. Methods like chromatography and biosensors are commonly used, but each has limitations in stability, selectivity, or applicability. THz metamaterial (MM) sensors offer high sensitivity through changes in spectral response, making them a promising alternative to address many of these challenges. They enable the identification of specific pesticide molecules at extremely low concentrations through resonance frequency shifts. By incorporating innovative design features, these sensors can detect trace pesticide residues with ease, affordability, and rapid response. In this work, we designed an MM sensor with near-perfect absorption at its resonance frequency. The high absorption of 99.43% resulted from impedance matching with the free space. The MM demonstrated an impressive figure of merit, highlighting its effectiveness as a sensing device. This approach has significant potential for food safety and environmental monitoring applications, providing efficient and reliable detection solutions.
农药通过保护作物免受病虫害侵害并确保高产，在农业中发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，不当使用会对人类健康和环境构成严重风险，这凸显了精确检测农药残留的必要性。色谱法和生物传感器等方法常用，但每种方法在稳定性、选择性或适用性方面都有局限性。太赫兹超材料（MM）传感器通过光谱响应的变化提供高灵敏度，使其成为应对许多此类挑战的有前途的替代方案。它们能够通过共振频率偏移识别极低浓度下的特定农药分子。通过融入创新设计特点，这些传感器能够轻松、经济且快速地检测痕量农药残留。在这项工作中，我们设计了一种在其共振频率处具有近乎完美吸收的MM传感器。99.43%的高吸收率源于与自由空间的阻抗匹配。该MM展示了令人印象深刻的品质因数，突出了其作为传感装置的有效性。这种方法在食品安全和环境监测应用中具有巨大潜力，提供了高效可靠的检测解决方案。
