Hazardous materials sensing: An electrical metamaterial approach

Metamaterials are recently emerging materials exhibiting amazing properties such as extremely miniaturized antennas, waveguides, optical couplers, multiplexers and filters. Such structures also respond to the variation in their ambient conditions when exposed to toxic and hazardous materials, which are especially hazardous to human health. Through this manuscript, we document our studies on three different high energy materials; namely 2- bromo-2nitropropane-1,3-diol (BNP), bis (1,3-diazido prop-2-yl) malonate (AM) and bis (1,3-diazido prop-2-yl) glutarate (AG). A Complementary Split Ring Resonator has been fabricated at resonant frequency of 4.48 GHz using copper on FR4 substrate. The energetic materials were exposed to the sensor and results were monitored using Vector Network Analyzer. The volume of liquids was varied from 0.5 µL to 3 µL. Prominent and explicit shifts in the transmission resonant frequency and amplitude was seen as a signature of each energetic material. The signatures were not only sensitive to the specific toxic group in the material but also to the volume of the liquid subjected to this sensor. The results are correlated with the simulation results, basic chemistry of the materials and permittivity measurements. The ultra-fast reversibility and repeatability, with good sensitivity and specificity of these devices project their applications in sensitive locations, particularly to combat for human security and health issues.