Solute concentration sensing in two aqueous solution using an optical metamaterial sensor

An optically semiconductor metamaterial sensor for solute concentration sensing is designed based on plasmonically induced transparency (PIT) effect. The concentration of two aqueous solutions, NaCl and ethanol in water solutions are investigated using the proposed optical sensor. The optimization process to find the best geometrical size for the antennas and also the material thicknesses cause to have a very high sensitivity for two aqueous sensor so that the maximum sensitivity for NaCl solution is approximately 224 mu m/RIU which is a high value in comparison with the reported values in literature and the optical sensitivity of ethanol-water concentration is 27.2 mu m/RIU which is an ultra-high value compared to literature reported values. The values of 1.5 x 10(-2) and 4.7 x 10(-2) in refractive index unit are obtained for limit of detection and quantification, respectively.

Automated summary

An optically semiconductor metamaterial sensor based on plasmonically induced transparency is designed for solute concentration sensing, showing high sensitivity in detecting NaCl and ethanol solutions. The sensor's maximum sensitivity for NaCl solution is around 224 mu m/RIU, while for ethanol-water concentration is 27.2 mu m/RIU, with limit of detection and quantification values obtained for refractive index unit.