Heliyon (Jul 2024)
Recent advances in the metamaterial and metasurface-based biosensor in the gigahertz, terahertz, and optical frequency domains
Abstract
Recently, metamaterials and metasurface have gained rapidly increasing attention from researchers due to their extraordinary optical and electrical properties. Metamaterials are described as artificially defined periodic structures exhibiting negative permittivity and permeability simultaneously. Whereas metasurfaces are the 2D analogue of metamaterials in the sense that they have a small but not insignificant depth. Because of their high optical confinement and adjustable optical resonances, these artificially engineered materials appear as a viable photonic platform for biosensing applications. This review paper discusses the recent development of metamaterial and metasurface in biosensing applications based on the gigahertz, terahertz, and optical frequency domains encompassing the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Overlapping features such as material selection, structure, and physical mechanisms were considered during the classification of our biosensing applications. Metamaterials and metasurfaces working in the GHz range provide prospects for better sensing of biological samples, THz frequencies, falling between GHz and optical frequencies, provide unique characteristics for biosensing permitting the exact characterization of molecular vibrations, with an emphasis on molecular identification, label-free analysis, and imaging of biological materials. Optical frequencies on the other hand cover the visible and near-infrared regions, allowing fine regulation of light-matter interactions enabling metamaterials and metasurfaces to offer excellent sensitivity and specificity in biosensing. The outcome of the sensor's sensitivity to an electric or magnetic field and the resonance frequency are, in theory, determined by the frequency domain and features. Finally, the challenges and possible future perspectives in biosensing application areas have been presented that use metamaterials and metasurfaces across diverse frequency domains to improve sensitivity, specificity, and selectivity in biosensing applications.
