arXiv · 1506.08363
Highly sensitive and selective sugar detection by terahertz nano-antennas
Abstract
Molecular recognition and discrimination of carbohydrates are important because carbohydrates perform essential roles in most living organisms for energy metabolism and cell-to-cell communication. Nevertheless, it is difficult to identify or distinguish various carbohydrate molecules owing to the lack of a significant distinction in the physical or chemical characteristics. Although there has been considerable effort to develop a sensing platform for individual carbohydrates selectively using chemical receptors or an ensemble array, their detection and discrimination limits have been as high in the millimolar concentration range. Here we show a highly sensitive and selective detection method for the discrimination of carbohydrate molecules using nano-slot-antenna array-based sensing chips which operate in the terahertz frequency range. This THz metamaterial sensing tool recognizes various types of carbohydrate molecules over a wide range of molecular concentrations. Strongly localized and enhanced terahertz transmission by nano-antennas can effectively increase the molecular absorption cross sections, thereby enabling the detection of these molecules even at low concentrations. We verified the performance of nano-antenna sensing chip by both THz spectra and images of transmittance. Screening and identification of various carbohydrates can be applied to test even real market beverages with a high sensitivity and selectivity.
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Dong-Kyu Lee, Ji-Hun Kang, Jun-Seok Lee, Hyo-Seok Kim, Chulki Kim, Jae Hun Kim, Taikjin Lee, Joo-Hiuk Son, Q-Han Park, Minah Seo. 2015-06-28. Highly sensitive and selective sugar detection by terahertz nano-antennas. https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.08363
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